title: Self-inflicted injuries with negative political overtones.
abstract: The report deals with two adolescents (a 17-year-old Turkish boy and a 15-year-old German girl) who simulated right-wing assaults by cutting National Socialist symbols into their own skin. The fact that Nazi symbols were chosen was obviously due to the idea that the alleged commission of the offense by right-wingers would not be doubted due to the negative image of this group. The alleged victims did not inform the police until the family or close friends urged them to report the incident. The rapid elucidation of the facts was possible because medicolegal experts were called in at an early stage of the investigations. The injuries showed typical morphological features of self-infliction (localization in easily accessible parts of the body, multitude of singular lesions with a linear or slightly curved course, equally shallow and non-penetrating cuts, arrangement in groups or over a defined area, lack of defense injuries, no corresponding damage to the clothing).
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Freiburg, Albertstrasse 9, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Faller-Marquardt
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pollak
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D028683:National Socialism; D011057:Politics; D012652:Self Mutilation / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D013561:Symbolism