title: Femicide in Italy: national scenario and presentation of four cases.
abstract: Femicide is defined as the killing of a woman by a man because she is a woman. The incidence of femicide has increased over the past few years and accounted for 30.9% of all homicides in 2011 in Italy. Certain features are usually present including asphyxiation as the mechanism of death, an intimate partner as murderer, and a history of sentimental relationship between the victim and the offender. In this paper, we analyse the Italian experience of femicide comparing it with the international scenario. We present four cases of femicide showing peculiar mechanisms of death resulting from various methods of asphyxiation. In all the cases, there had been a relationship between the victim and the offender. We discuss the mechanism of asphyxiation used to kill the women, emphasizing the necessity of a careful evaluation of all data available to reach the correct conclusion in atypical cases of femicide.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bonanni
authors.forename: Aniello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maiese
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gitto
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Falco
authors.forename: Adamo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maiese
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bolino
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001237:Asphyxia / Q000473:pathology; D019548:Crime Victims; D005260:Female; D006708:Homicide / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000473:pathology; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000473:pathology; D014930:Women; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: asphyxiation; femicide; forensic science; homicide; intimate partner; violence against women