Femicide & Murdered Women's Children: Which Future for These Children Orphans of a Living Parent?

To assess the prevalence of femicides in Italy over the last three years and the potential long lasting effects of these traumatic events for the children of a woman who dies a violent death.

The data used in this study come from an internet search for the number of femicides occurring in Italy between 1(st) January, 2012 and 31(st) October, 2014.

The total number of femicides was 319; the average age of murdered women was 47.50 ± 19.26. Cold arms in the form of sharp object -mostly knives- have caused the death of 102/319 women; firearms were used in 87/319 cases; asphyxiation was the chosen method in 52/319 cases. About the place where the femicides occurred, 209/319 were committed inside the victim's house. Children of women who died a violent death were 417 with a total of 180 minors in less than three years. A total of 52/417 children were witness to the killing and, among these 30/52 were minors; in 18/417 cases, children were murdered together with their mother and among these 9/18 were minors.

Long-term studies are needed to ascertain what happens to these children, to understand what are the most appropriate psychological treatments, the best decisions about the contact with their father and the best placement for these children.

Below:  Cumulative number of femicides per year

Full article at:   http://ht.ly/SXEh8 

By: Ferrara P1,2, Caporale O3, Cutrona C4, Sbordone A5, Amato M6, Spina G7, Ianniello F8, Fabrizio GC9, Guadagno C10, Basile MC11, Miconi F12, Perrone G13,Riccardi R14, Verrotti A15, Pettoello-Mantovani M16, Villani A17, Corsello G18, Scambia G19.

• 1Institute of Pediatrics, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
• 2Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy
• 3Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy
• 4Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy
• 5Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy
• 6Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy
• 7Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy.
• 8Institute of Pediatrics, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy
• 9Institute of Pediatrics, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy
• 10Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy
• 11Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy
• 12Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy.
• 13Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy
• 14Institute of Pediatrics, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy
• 15Department of Pediatrics, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
• 16Institute of Pediatrics and Residency program, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy
• 17Pediatric and Infectious Disease Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
• 18Department of Sciences for Health Promotion and Mother and Child Care, University of Palermo, Palermo
• 19Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

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Disparities in Work-Related Homicide Rates in Selected Retail Industries in the United States, 2003–2008

Below: *Homecide rate per 100,000 workers for all retail workers, foreign-born workers, selected retail workers and selected retail workers who are foreign-born, United States — 2003–2008.

*This research was conducted with restricted access to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the BLS.

Problem

Segments within the retail industry have a substantially higher rate of work-related fatality due to workplace violence compared to the retail industry overall. Certain demographic subgroups may be at higher risk.

Method

National traumatic injury surveillance data were analyzed to characterize the distribution of fatality rates due to workplace violence among selected retail workers in the United States from 2003 through 2008.

Results

Overall, the highest fatality rates due to work-related homicide occurred among men, workers aged ≥ 65 years, black, Asian, foreign-born and Southern workers. Among foreign-born workers, those aged 16–24 years, non-Hispanic whites and Asians experienced substantially higher fatality rates compared to their native-born counterparts.

Conclusions

The burden of work-related homicide in the retail industry falls more heavily on several demographic groups, including racial minorities and the foreign-born. Further research should examine the causes of these trends. Interventions designed to prevent workplace violence should target these groups.

Read more at: http://ht.ly/RTQ71 

By: Cammie Chaumont Menéndez,* Srinivas Konda, Scott Hendricks, and Harlan Amandus
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Safety Research, 1095 Willowdale Rd., Morgantown, WV 26505, USA

A Method for Reclassifying Cause of Death in Cases Categorized as “Event of Undetermined Intent”

Below: Russian trends in standardized death rates per 100,000 residents for non-transport accidents, suicides, homicides, and external deaths due to events of undetermined intent

Below:  Distributions of the three imputed causes of death (both sexes) depending on constraints on the estimated classification probability, per 1000 cases

Background

We present a method for reclassifying external causes of death categorized as “event of undetermined intent” (EUIs) into non-transport accidents, suicides, or homicides. In nations like Russia and the UK the absolute number of EUIs is large, the EUI death rate is high, or EUIs comprise a non-trivial proportion of all deaths due to external causes. Overuse of this category may result in (1) substantially underestimating the mortality rate of deaths due to specific external causes and (2) threats to the validity of studies of the patterns and causes of external deaths and of evaluations of the impact of interventions meant to reduce them.

Methods

We employ available characteristics about the deceased and the event to estimate the most likely cause of death using multinomial logistic regression. We use the set of known non-transport accidents, suicides, and homicides to calculate an mlogit-based linear score and an estimated classification probability (ECP). This ECP is applied to EUIs, with varying levels of minimal classification probability. We also present an optional second step that employs a population-level adjustment to reclassify deaths that remain undetermined (the proportion of which varies based on the minimal classification probability). We illustrate our method by applying it to Russia. Between 2000 and 2011, 521,000 Russian deaths (15 % percent of all deaths from external causes) were categorized as EUIs. We used data from anonymized micro-data on the ~3 million deaths from external causes. Our reclassification model used 10 decedent and event characteristics from the computerized death records.

Results

Results show that during this period about 14 % of non-transport accidents, 13 % of suicides, and 33 % of homicides were officially categorized as EUIs. Our findings also suggest that 2011 levels of non-transport accidents and suicides would have been about 24 % higher and of homicide about 82 % higher than that reported by official vital statistics data.

Conclusions

Overuse of the external cause of death classification “event of undetermined intent” may indicate questionable quality of mortality data on external causes of death. This can have wide-ranging implications for families, medical professionals, the justice system, researchers, and policymakers. With our classification probability set as equal to or higher than 0.75, we were able to reclassify about two-thirds of EUI deaths in our sample. Our optional additional step allowed us to redistribute the remaining unclassified EUIs. Our method can be applied to data from any nation or sub-national population in which the EUI category is employed.

Read more at: http://ht.ly/RQFGw HT https://twitter.com/ualbany

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High Rates of Homicide in a Rural South African Population (2000-2008): Findings From a Population-Based Cohort Study

Below:  External causes of death (2000–2008)

Below:  Homicide-free survival among men and women (2000–2008)

Below:  Incidence of homicide trend across a nine-year period (2000–2008)

Below:  Male and female incidence of homicide by age group (2000–2008)

Below:  Location of two significant clusters (p < 0.05) with elevated rates of homicide (2000–2008) across the surveillance area. Red dots represent the approximate location of each homicide victim’s place of residence (with intentional random error introduced) and all homesteads (black dots) are depicted

With 536 homicide-related deaths, and a median seven years of follow-up, the study found an overall homicide incidence rate of 66 deaths per 100, 000 person-years of observation (PYOs) (95 % CI 60-72) for the period under study. Death related to the use of firearms was the leading reported method of homicide (65 %) and most deaths occurred over weekends (43 %). Homicides are the second-most common cause of death in men aged 25–34 after HIV-related deaths (including TB) in this community, at 210 deaths per 100,000 PYOs, and was highest among 55–64 year old women, at 78 deaths per 100,000 PYOs. Residency status, age, socioeconomic status, and highest education level attained independently predicted the risk of homicide death. The spatial distribution of homicide deaths was not homogenous and the study identified two clear geographical clusters with significantly elevated homicide risk.

The high rates of homicide observed in this typical rural South African population – particularly among men – underscore the need for urgent interventions to reduce this tragic and theoretically preventable loss of life in this population and similar South African settings.

Read more at: http://ht.ly/RJ7z2 HT https://twitter.com/CDCgov

He Did What?: The Role of Diagnosticity in Revising Implicit Evaluations

Throughout much of their over 30 years of marriage, Barbara Kuklinski would have described her life with her husband, Richard, in mostly idyllic terms. “We had what seemed to be the perfect life,” she said. “We were the All-American family.” It was thus quite a shock to Barbara and her children, on the day that Richard was arrested, when she abruptly discovered that he had been, over his 30-year tenure as a hitman for a number of mafia families in New Jersey, one of the most prolific contract killers in American history. The man whom she had known since she was 19 years old, whom she described as a romantic that would often leave flowers for her, and with whom she had raised 3 children, was rather suddenly revealed to be a cold-blooded killer. He would later boast in interviews that he had been responsible for over 100 murders. Outside of what one detective described as a “normal, classic family existence,” Kuklinski had earned himself the nickname “Iceman”—a reference to his technique of freezing his victims in an industrial-sized freezer to obscure the time of death. After his conviction, Kuklinski would spend the rest of his life in a maximum security prison, until his death in 2006...

Read at:   http://ht.ly/QLF3A HT @Yale