Differences Between Sexual and Nonsexual Homicides of Women in the United States: Findings From the National Violent Death Reporting System

Sexual homicide (SH) is the most severe outcome of sexual violence and disproportionately affects women. While SH is rare (<1% in the U.S.) and gravely understudied, it is among the most violent, feared, and well publicized forms of murder. Thus, examining predictors is pertinent to identifying targets for prevention and response efforts. Secondary analysis of 2015–2018 National Violent Death Reporting System data on 6461 female homicide victims age 20–64 was conducted to determine if SH represents a unique killing characterized by specific offender, victim, and incident profiles. Law enforcement and coroner/medical examiner narratives were reviewed to identify cases with sexual elements ( N=324). Logistic regression estimated odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. Findings highlight important differences between SH and non-SH. SH victims were more likely to be single (AOR=1.7, p=.006), have a substance abuse problem (AOR=1.4, p=.04), or engaged in prostitution (AOR=10.4, p<.001). SH suspects were more likely to be male (AOR=2.5, p=.04), use an illicit substance in the preceding hours (AOR=1.6, p=.03), or had recent contact with police (AOR=1.6, p=.01). SH was more likely to occur in a hotel/motel (AOR=3.0, p=.002), by asphyxiation (AOR =13.38, p<.001), be perpetrated against an acquaintance (AOR=1.64, p=.007), or be precipitated by another serious crime (AOR=2.1, p<.001). Findings advance our understanding of SH victim, suspect, and incident profiles, which can help to better inform police/investigative practices and crime prevention strategies/interventions as well as to improve how SH cases are managed in correctional programs for offenders who have the opportunity for release back into society.

Use of Troponin I as a Biochemical Marker for Diagnostics of Asphictic State in Mechanical Asphyxia

The purpose of the study was to determine the quantitative content of the biochemical marker of myocardial damage (subunits of the troponin complex: Troponin I) in the blood as a diagnostic criterion for asphyxia in mechanical asphyxia. Materials and methods. To determine the presence of asphyxia, the quantitative content of Troponin I in the blood of 12 dead people was studied and analyzed, among which violent death was observed in 7 cases and non-violent – in 5 cases. The study for biochemical detection of Troponin I used a method based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay followed by statistical processing of the results using the MedStat package. Results and discussion. Among the biochemical markers for the diagnosis of asphyxia in hanging and aspiration asphyxia, the most indicative is the determination of the quantitative content of Troponin I in the blood, which is also used in clinical practice to substantiate the diagnosis of cardiac pathology. Therefore, it is important to conduct a differential diagnosis of changes in quantitative indicators of biochemical markers depending on the cause and genesis of death. During the study of the quantitative content of Troponin I in the blood of those who died of mechanical asphyxia (hanging, aspiration asphyxia), it was found that the content of troponin I is from 140 ng/ml to 170 ng/ml. The quantitative content of Troponin I in the blood of those who died of acute and chronic coronary heart disease (control group) is from 10.1 ng/ml to 120 ng/ml. The average value of the quantitative content of Troponin I in two samples was found: in the blood of those who died of mechanical asphyxia – 156 ng/ml±4.4 ng/ml; in the blood of those who died of acute and chronic coronary heart disease – 45.62 ng/ml±22.4 ng/ml. The study revealed a difference in quantitative indicators of biochemical markers depending on the cause and genesis of death, found that the quantitative content of Troponin I in the blood of the dead from mechanical asphyxia (hanging, aspiration asphyxia) compared with the quantitative content of Troponin I in the blood of the dead with chronic coronary heart disease is higher, at the level of significance p=0.008. Conclusion. Thus, in the course of research, the feasibility of using changes in quantitative indicators of the biochemical marker Troponin I to determine the asphyxiation in violent death (mechanical asphyxia) and differential diagnosis in cases of non-violent death (acute and chronic coronary heart disease) was proved, which significantly increases efficiency and reliability of forensic medical examinations

“I Have No Words”: A Qualitative Study About the Traumatic Experience of Violent Death

Individuals bereaved by violent death have a higher risk of developing psychopathology. Consistent data concerning the subjective experience during the traumatic event of the death are still scarce. This study aimed to explore the traumatic experience of the violent death of a loved one. Nine reports of patients bereaved by violence were selected and transcribed. Reports were analyzed using Bardin’s Content Analysis. Two final categories were generated. It was observed that most participants remembered details about the traumatic event or the time they were told about the violent death. There were two factors described as important when coping with the loss, social support during the traumatic event, and receiving detailed information from the authorities and others present in that moment. This study provides relevant data for future interventions during violent situations by health and security professionals.

John Allen Chau and the Designative Authority of Martyrdom

This article describes two journeys. The first is the journey undertaken by Christian missionary John Allen Chau to North Sentinel Island, where he planned to preach the Christian gospel to the island’s inhabitants despite the fact that they have been cut off from the outside world for sixty thousand years. Chau’s efforts ended in his death at the hands of the islanders. The second journey recounted in the article is that from missionary to saint undertaken following Chau’s death. The article examines several issues related to certain philosophical problems in respect of the authority required to designate a victim of violent death a martyr or a saint.

Thirty Years in the Service of the Habsburgs: Insight into the Devoted Work of the Turkish Dragoman (Interpreter) Johann Adam Lachowitz (1678–1709)

The article focuses on the career and activities of Johann Adam Lachowitz. In December 1707, the Commander of Pétervárad (present day Петроварадин (Petrovaradin) in Serbia) nominated him as the head of a committee which met with the Ottoman commissaries on the border between the Habsburg and the Ottoman Empire. The committee was created to negotiate in the case of 55 Muslim and Greek merchants who were murdered in Kecskemét on April 3, 1707. The negotiations took almost one and a half years and were his last completed assignment. He died a few months later, just after the consensus was reached in May 1709. Lachowitz did not have a violent death, but one can assume that the deplorable living conditions he had to endure his whole life, might have largely contributed to his indisposition and subsequent death. This paper shall provide an insight into these living conditions. The research on the career of the Turkish interpreter, later the Chief interpreter and then the secretary, can further enrich the academic narratives about the lives, services and office advancements of the lower officials in the Habsburg diplomatic organization. The interpreters (in the presented case, the interpreters of Oriental languages (dragomen)) assisted both courts with their services, which were arduous and often required personal sacrifices. They were the backbone of all the diplomatic structures in the Sublime Porte, in Vienna and on the Habsburg–Ottoman border as well. The outbreak of conflicts, the process of peace making and the corroboration of peace treaties were dependant on their contributions. Even though they were not soldiers, they nevertheless risked their lives while serving in an especially influential part of the Habsburg state structure.

Sexual assault and fatal violence against women during the Irish War of Independence, 1919–1921: Kate Maher’s murder in context

At the height of the Irish War of Independence, 1919–1921, 45-year-old Kate Maher was brutally raped. She subsequently died of terrible wounds, almost certainly inflicted by drunken British soldiers. This article discusses her inadequately investigated case in the wider context of fatal violence against women and girls during years of major political instability. Ordinarily her violent death would have been subject to a coroner’s court inquiry and rigorous police investigation, but in 1920, civil inquests in much of Ireland were replaced by military courts of inquiry. With the exception of medical issues, where doctors adhered to their ethical responsibility to provide clear and concise evidence on injuries, wounds and cause of death, courts of inquiry were cursory affairs in which Crown forces effectively investigated and exonerated themselves. This article adopts a microhistory approach to Maher’s case to compare how civilian and military systems differed in their treatments of female fatalities. Despite the fact that the medical evidence unequivocally showed that the attack was of a very violent sexual nature, the two soldiers directly implicated were not charged with rape or any other sexual offence. In her case, and in those of other women who died violently while in the company of soldiers and policemen, prosecutions of the men involved resulted in acquittal by military court martial. This was so both for women portrayed as of immoral character and for others assumed to be ‘respectable’. It also reflects on the wider question of sexual violence during the Irish War of Independence, concluding that while females experienced a range of gender-determined threats and actions such as armed raids on their homes, the ‘bobbing’ of hair and other means of ‘shaming’, rape, accepted as the most serious act of sexual assault, was regarded by all combatants as beyond the pale.