title: Violence against women: profile of the aggressors and victims and characterization of the injuries. A forensic study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study, carried out based on examinations of battered women by the Clinical Forensic Service of the Afrânio Peixoto Medical-Legal Institute in the city of Rio de Janeiro, aims to characterize the nature of the injuries suffered by victims of domestic violence and to investigate the motivation of such events, the family situations in which they occur, the habits of victims and aggressors and the social milieu involved.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire was given to 1000 battered women attended by that service between October 2009 and March 2012, along with simultaneous quantification/classification of the injuries suffered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found a prevalence of working women (63.3%), with at least some high school (46.6%), who were the main household breadwinners (50.9%). In contrast, the largest percentages of male aggressors only had primary school educations at most (45.9%), were illegal drug users (60.4%) and were self-employed/freelance workers (72.4%). Regarding classification of the injuries (according to the Brazilian Penal Code), there were 971 cases of injuries considered slight, 23 of severe injuries and 6 of very severe injuries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of the women studied continue suffering aggressions even though they have their own means of support without depending on a male companion or husband. The reasons given for accepting the aggressive acts were mainly associated with the psychological sphere, in a relation of dependence and subordination.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Médico-Legal Afrânio Peixoto, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Electronic address: silvia_falcao@uol.com.br.
authors.forename: Sílvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Falcão de Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Instituto Médico-Legal Afrânio Peixoto, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Departamento de Química Analítica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Karla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ribeiro de Lima Cardoso
authors.affiliation: Instituto Médico-Legal Afrânio Peixoto, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Faculdade de Odontologia da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Casimiro Abreu
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Possante de Almeida
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Nefrologia da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lúcio Ronaldo
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Radiologia da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Hospital Universitário Clementino Fraga Filho, Av. Brigadeiro Trompovsky s/n, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro 21941-590, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gutfilen
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D018585:Battered Women / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification* / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Domestic violence; Forensic medicine; Violence against women