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PubMed1989

[A brief statistical survey on medico-legal activities during the period of two decades four years].

Records maintained indicate that Department of Legal Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine has handled 1,275 cases in total including 1,157 judicial autopsies and 118 cases other than those during the period of 24 years and 3 months (Jan 1963-Mar 1987). (1) Judicial autopsy cases Infanticide: 86 cases (7.4%, 40 male, 44 female and 2 sex unidentified cases), and a total number of autopsies carried out on other than infanticide were 1,071 cases (92.6%, 743 male and 328 female cases). The 1,071 cases were further brokendown into 496 homicidal, 278 traffic accidental, 169 except-traffic accidental and casualties, 74 natural death, 44 suicidal, 9 accidental poisoning death groups, and 1 unidentified case. The cases and means of homicidal cases were classified by cutlery and pointed weapons: 243 cases, strangulation and throttling: 104 cases, blunt or similar ones: 96 cases, fire arms (pistol or hunting gun): 35 cases, poisoning: 8 cases, murder by fire: 4 cases, and 6 other cases. (2) Investigations with exception of judicial autopsy cases. Determination by 46 substance (blood-stains, murderous weapons and others): 38 cases by parentage, 21 cases by documents (clinical anamnesis, clinical diary and testimony records), and other 13 cases. (3) Some remarks to be taken account in performance of investigations for adequate determination.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1995

Retrospective investigation of medico-legal autopsy cases involving mentally handicapped individuals.

Mentally handicapped individuals were involved in some way in 64 (17.7%) of the total of 362 medico-legal autopsy cases during the past 13 years. Among these 64 cases, 32 were suicides committed by mentally handicapped persons (18 males and 14 females). The most common method of suicide was drowning (65.6%). Five cases were homicides suddenly and unexpectedly committed by mentally handicapped persons. In four of the five cases, the victim was a member of the assailant's family; this was considered to be a characteristic of homicides committed by mentally handicapped persons. On the other hand, there was only one case in which a mentally handicapped person was victimized, that of a 34-year-old female with schizophrenia who was strangled by her mother. In 19 cases, infanticide was committed by mentally handicapped mothers ranging in age from 17 to 40 years old; approximately 80% of the infanticide victims were infants of less than 6 months, and this was the age range most at risk of victims. There were two cases involving either double suicide or murder followed by suicide; in one case, the 45-year-old mother of a mentally handicapped 18-year-old son with congenital hydrocephalus set fire to her own house, and both perished in the fire, and in the other, a 65-year-old schizophrenic female fatally stabbed her neighbor, a 68-year-old female, and then she also cut herself fatally. There were three cases in which mentally handicapped individuals died due to freezing, and one in which an epileptic died suddenly due to status epilepticus. In order to prevent these tragic events, at first, it is necessary to much better understand the circumstances of the mentally handicapped individuals and their families without prejudices against them. The authors propose that a more comprehensive psychiatric medical care including the following systems should be established in Japan: 1) Day care for the mentally handicapped person, especially after the discharge as well as during admission, and support for their relatives, 2) Therapeutic drug monitoring to assess the effective level of psychotropic drugs and to suppress the side effects in the patients receiving the psychotropic drugs for a long time.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Distinguishing sudden infant death syndrome from child abuse fatalities. Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, 1993-1994.

Public and professional awareness of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has increased in the 28 years since the establishment of the National Sudden Infant Death Foundation, now called the National SIDS Alliance.' Similarly, awareness of child abuse has increased in the 30 years since the publication of the first article on the battered child. In the majority of cases, when an infant younger than one year dies suddenly and unexpectedly, the cause is SIDS. Sudden infant death syndrome is for more common than infanticide. In a few difficult cases, legitimate investigations for possible child abuse have resulted in an insensitive approach to grieving parents or caretakers. This statement provides professionals with information and guidelines to avoid distressing or stigmatizing families of SIDS victims while allowing accumulation of appropriate evidence in the uncommon case of death by infanticide.

Cause of Death↗
PubMed1975

The genetic structure of a tribal population, the Yanomama Indians. XII. Biodemographic studies.

The Yyanomama Indians of Southern Venezuela and Northern Brazil are one of the largest, relatively unacculturated tribes of the tropical rain forest. Over a period of eight years data have been collected from a considerable portion of their territory on estimated age, sex ratio, fertility rates (as determined by physical examination and urine tests), and infant death rates. Although it has been impossible to collect direct data on infanticide, this subject can be approached indirectly through distortions of the sex ratio and anecdotal information. Some historical data are also available as a basis for estimating tribal expansion in the past 100 years. With this material it has been possible to construct Life Tables for the anomama,, and to explore the results of various perturbations of the input parameters. Data are also presented on patterns of mating and reproduction: number of spouses, mean and variance in number of surviving children, frequency of "extra-marital conceptions" based on the results of extensive blood group typings, and consanguinity rates as determined by observation and computer simulation. Although we do not present the Yanomama as typical, these data are seen as providing a basis for more realistic population models than have existed in the past. In addition, the data provide a basis for relatively precise estimates of such demographic measures as Fisher's Reproductive Value, Crow's Index of Total Selection, and Weiss' Index of Growth Regulation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Crimes in New York and Tokyo: sociocultural perspectives.

Patterns of major crimes in Tokyo and New York City, based on official reports, are compared. Among other findings, the rate of infanticides among the total of murder cases was strikingly higher in Tokyo than in New York City. Intruders in New York City, on the other hand, were found to seek confrontation with victims more actively than their counterparts in Tokyo. Social and cultural factors underlying or contributing to the causes of major crimes are discussed.

Child↗
PubMed1988

Child abuse in nineteenth century Queensland.

Various forms of the social and medical dilemma now referred to as child abuse occurred in 19th century Queensland. Incidents ranging from parental carelessness and neglect to deliberate injury and murder were reported in the lay and medical press. This paper investigates abuse of infants in Queensland in the latter half of the 19th century in the context of socioeconomic conditions, family stress, concepts of morality and prevailing social mores. Identifiable incidents include infanticide, injury, deliberate neglect, neglect due to ignorance and poverty, and accidents or poisonings where abuse appears to have been a factor. Child abuse stimulated the medical profession, religious bodies, groups of concerned citizens, and eventually the state to intervene to protect and care for endangered children. These initiatives and the social and moral attitudes they reflected are also examined. Legal definitions and records of court proceedings are evaluated as well so that changes in official as well as social attitudes can be better understood.

Accidents↗
PubMed1993

Socio-cultural determinants of child mortality in southern Peru: including some methodological considerations.

Among Amerindian children living at high altitude in the Andes in southern Peru, high child mortality rates have been reported in the literature, especially in the perinatal and neonatal period. We compared mortality rates in children calculated from retrospective survey data in 86 rural families from 2 Aymara and 3 Quechua peasant communities living at the same level of altitude (3825 m) in southern Peru. Relations between land tenure, socio-cultural factors and child mortality were studied, and methodological considerations in this field of interest are discussed. Checks on consistency of empirical data showed evidence for underreporting of neonatal female deaths with birth order 3 and more. Perinatal (124 vs 34 per 1000 births) and infant mortality (223 vs 111 per 1000 live births) was significantly higher in Aymara compared with Quechua children, but no difference was found after the first year of life. A short pregnancy interval was associated with an elevated perinatal and infant mortality rate, and a similar albeit insignificant association was found with increased maternal age. Amount of land owned and birth order were not related with child mortality. Although levels of maternal education are generally low in both cultures, a consistent decline in infant and child mortality was found with the amount of years mothers had attended school. However, the results suggest a U-shaped relationship between the amount of years of parental education and perinatal mortality in offspring. Late fetal and early neonatal mortality were particularly high in one Aymara community where mothers were found to have more years of education. Infanticide, a known phenomenon in the highlands of the Andes, is discussed in relation with the findings of the study. Although maternal and child health services are utilized by the majority of families in 4 of 5 study communities, 43 of 51 mothers under the age of 45 years reported that they delivered their last baby in the absence of traditional midwives or official medical supervision.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Diagnostic value of the placenta in medico-legal practice.

In three suspected cases of infanticide, histological examinations of the placentas were effective in clarifying the circumstances. We have estimated the 5th month of pregnancy from pieces of the placenta in one case and diagnosed the causes of perinatal abnormalities in two cases, those being acute chorioamnionitis and possible premature separation of normally implanted placenta.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed1994

Case report: repeated neonaticides in Hokkaido.

Five cases of repeated neonaticides were reported in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, during the 10 years from 1983 to 1992. Four or more neonates were involved in each case by each mother. All the suspected mothers were not mentally ill. Two of them were single and the rest were married. Each husband was not aware of the pregnancy of his wife, because he was away from home very often. The main motive of murder seemed to be economic and/or to save appearances. Sentences were 1 year penal servitude with a stay of 3 years for one case, but 30-42 months in prison for the other four cases. We rarely find reports of repeated infanticides committed by the same mother in European countries and the United States.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Establishing the causes of childhood mortality in Ghana: the 'spirit child'.

Communities in remote regions of northeast Ghana record some of the highest rates of under five mortality in West Africa (23.9 per 1000 children/year (Binka, Maude et al. (1995). International Journal of Epidemiology, 24(1), 127-135). The communities, isolated geographically and culturally from the main tribal groups in Ghana continue to adhere very strongly to traditional beliefs and practices. A qualitative study of both traditional and modern maternal and child health care systems in the area, demonstrated that almost 15% of deaths of infants under 3 months of age were due to a belief in chichuru or spirit children, resulting in infanticide. It is therefore a significant public health problem, which has to be addressed in programs for the control of child mortality. A modification of the verbal autopsy method is proposed to assist in the identification of non-biomedical causes of death.

Anthropology, Cultural↗
PubMed1975

Abortion, euthanasia, and care of defective newborns.

Growing use of abortion to prevent births of infants with unfavorable prenatal diagnoses raises ethical questions about active euthanasia for newborn infants with similar impairments. Two opposing ethical arguments are those of Paul Ramsey, who equates genetically indicated abortion with infanticide disapprovingly, and of Joseph Fletcher, who equates the morality of abortion with selective euthanasia approvingly. Though radically different, these arguments treat the ethical aspects of the prenatal and postnatal situations as essentially similar. There are, however, different moral features between the two situations, in that the postnatal situation is characterized by the independent physical existence of the infant, the possibility of treatment, and the formation of parental loyality to the infant. Thus, a decision for abortion after prenatal diagnosis does not necessarily commit parents to euthanasia in the management of a seriously damaged infant.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Female analogies to perversion.

Unlike the intrapsychic mechanism for self-esteem regulation in males as a basic component of perversion--extrapsychically (compensationally) culminating in an output of sexual impulses--a functional stabilization of the female self-concept seems more likely if conflict drives were to be focused on reproductional aspects and not on sexuality. It therefore seems more suitable to use a new expression in linguistic analogy to perversion: "reproversion." The case history gives an example of a clinical manifestation of "reproverse" symptom formation. The general survey describes the main points of view in regard to clinically oriented differentiation, i.e., intensity, ego-proximity in the personality structure, and one's own self-acceptance within "reproverse" symptom formation. Underlying personality disturbances are also discussed. The significance of reproversion is relevant to many different specialized medical fields. This is explained in conclusion, using the examples of denied pregnancy and infanticide at birth based on initial empirical results.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Age- and sex-specific analysis of homicide mortality as a function of economic development: a cross-national comparison.

AIMS: This study examined the association between homicide rates and GNP per capita (as a measure of economic development) among all age- and sex-specific groups in 53 countries. METHODS: Cross-sectional data on homicide rates by age- and sex- specific groups were obtained for 53 countries from World Health Statistics Annual 1996. The association between homicide rates and economic development was studied by using two methods: (1) with regression analysis and (2) by categorizing the data into four income-based country groups and then comparing the differences in their mean values. RESULTS: Results indicate that there was a negative correlation between homicide rates and economic development. The association between homicide rates and country GNP per capita became stronger with increasing age. Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient was strongest among older age groups (65+year) in both sexes (male, r = -0.77 and female, r = -0.71). The correlation was weakest and positive among 1- to 4-year-old children (males, r = 0.17 and females, r = 0.07). The homicide rate among females was highest for <1-year-old children in low income countries (LICs) (12.8 per 100,000). CONCLUSIONS: Lower middle-income countries are in the stage of high priority where both homicide rates and homicide as percentage of total death are high, and its impact was greatest for young males. However, infanticide as a public health problem seems highly concentrated in the poorest countries, while homicide among small children, 1-4 years old, appears to be a universal phenomenon across all nations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Child abuse reports in families with sudden infant death syndrome.

This study investigates the relation between sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases and reports to public child protection service (CPS) agencies of suspected child abuse or neglect prior to the sudden deaths. SIDS data were collected from the Ventura County Medical Examiner's death investigation records of 1981 through 1995. Names of deceased infants, their parents, and any other caretakers who might have been with the infant near the time of death were submitted to the county CPS, where they were referenced for reports of abuse or neglect. A control population of non-SIDS infants and their caretakers were checked in a similar manner. The 150 infants from the control group were compared with 157 SIDS infants; no significant statistical difference was found between groups in the incidence or type of CPS referrals. These findings suggest that screening CPS records for previous referrals is an ineffective method by which to detect infanticides misdiagnosed as SIDS and may cast unwarranted suspicion on otherwise typical SIDS cases.

California↗
PubMed1988

Evolutionary social psychology and family homicide.

Homicide is an extreme manifestation of interpersonal conflict with minimal reporting bias and can thus be used as a conflict "assay." Evolutionary models of social motives predict that genetic relationship will be associated with mitigation of conflict, and various analyses of homicide data support this prediction. Most "family" homicides are spousal homicides, fueled by male sexual proprietariness. In the case of parent-offspring conflict, an evolutionary model predicts variations in the risk of violence as a function of the ages, sexes, and other characteristics of protagonists, and these predictions are upheld in tests with data on infanticides, parricides, and filicides.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1988

Kuhse, Singer and slippery slopes.

Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer recently examined the view expressed by John Lorber that whereas at times it is permissible to allow severely handicapped infants to die, killing them must never be allowed. In attempting to demonstrate the mistaken nature of Lorber's fear that allowing active infanticide would lead us onto a slippery slope Kuhse and Singer make much use of John Harris's paper in the Journal of Medical Ethics in which he criticised Lorber's views. This paper examines some aspects of the case advanced by Kuhse and Singer and of the earlier paper by Harris.

Persons with Disabilities↗
PubMed1990

Two philosophers in search of a contradiction: a response to Singer and Kuhse.

Peter Singer and Helga Kuhse reject my claim that because their views on the mortality of infanticide are metaphysically incommensurate with those of Paul Ramsey they cannot refute his position. According to them, I have failed to see that Ramsey contradicts himself. Once this is seen, no further refutation is needed. I argue that there is no contradiction and offer further thoughts on the metaphysically incommensurate.

Ethical Analysis↗