title: Police shootings against civilians in Portugal: Contextual, forensic medical and judicial characterization.
abstract: The aim of this study was to analyse the circumstances, the forensic assessment and the legal assessment of police shootings of civilians, according to the severity of the victim's injuries. Sixty-nine cases tried in Portuguese criminal courts were analysed. Of the 32 cases that resulted in death, 16 were on the public thoroughfare and 13 were in the victim's vehicle or in third-party vehicles. The majority of the lethal cases occurred when the region of the body hit was the thorax/abdomen. The firearm most frequently used was a semi-automatic 9 mm pistol. In cases resulting in death police officers involved were convicted whilst those involved in non-lethal cases were acquitted. The results of this study can be taken into account by Portuguese authorities for the implementation of policies that will allow the restriction of firearms use by police officers to situations of imminent danger of death or serious injury and that will make it possible to avoid shooting at fleeing civilians.
authors.affiliation: Doctoral Program in Forensic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine of Porto University, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address: ezrodrigues@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ezequiel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Law of Catholic University of Portugal, Rua Diogo Botelho, 1327, 4160-005 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Faria
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Department of Pathology, North Branch, Jardim Carrilho Videira, 4050-167 Porto, Portugal; Faculty of Medicine of Porto University, Department of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal; School of Health Sciences of Minho University, Campus Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal; Center of Forensic Sciences, National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, Largo da Sé Nova, 3000-213 Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Agostinho
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: EPIUnit - Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Rua das Taipas, 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Sílvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fraga
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016495:Police / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011174:Portugal / Q000453:epidemiology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Forensic medicine; Gunshot wounds; Judicial sentence; Legal medicine; Lethal force; Police