Dyadic death due to family custom in marriage

Abstract

In dyadic death, a there is a lack of studies addressing the effectiveness of the family pressure through these deaths. In this study, the effectiveness of the customs on the marriages is discussed with a related case of dyadic death. A 27 years old male and a 19 years old female were found dead in a car out of a city center away from hometown. In the external examination, there was an entrance wound on the right temporal region and an exit wound on the left temporal region of the man, and the contrary for the woman. Both of the exit wounds were contact wound. Both of the deceased were originally from the east part of Turkey and stated to be single; and the woman was reported to the security units as missing two days before the incident. As the motivation of the suicide, a note near to the man was explaining that the deceased couple loved each other for one year yet the family of the women had not let them to get married. Being an obstacle for the marriage even for adults and a cause of suicide because of family pressure is indicative of strict application of the family customs, in Turkey. The authors propose that issue of whether the 84. Article of the Turkish Penal Code should be or not applied as a deterrent factor reducing pressure of family customs.