Homicide in Brescia County (Northern Italy): A thirty-year review

Abstract

This retrospective study analyses post-mortem examination data of 251 homicide victims recorded by the Brescia Institute of Forensic Medicine between the years 1982 and 2012. The following variables were considered: year, month and day of death; gender, age and nationality of the victim; type of injurious mean; cause of death; homicide-suicides events; multiple murders; scene of death; toxicological data. Victims were usually young (30% was in the 21–30 years class) and males (64%). Although the victims were mostly Italians (73%), from 1990's more and more foreign victims appeared, following the migratory flow that affected Brescia County. The offenders frequently used firearms to kill their victims (41%), in particular for multiple murders. Sharp instruments were used mostly by foreigners. The study also emphasized 20 homicide-suicide events, mostly committed between intimates and family members.