Body Disposal Research Articles

An examination of body disposal patterns in sexual and non-sexual homicides

ABSTRACT Body disposal methods complicate homicide investigations, obscuring links between both demographic factors and crime scene behaviors. This study is a comprehensive empirical assessment of offender and victim demographics, alongside crime scene behaviors, in relation to body disposal methods in homicides. This was done through the examination of 326 homicide cases involving 403 offenders and 334 victims through regression analyses. Key findings revealed significant associations between body disposal methods and factors such as victim gender, substance use by victims and offenders, and offenders’ prior sexual offense records. Additionally, the cause of death, location, and cleaning or destruction of evidence were predictive of disposal methods taking place. Notably, the presence of sexual elements appeared to influence only a small number of factors, being victim gender and crime scene cleaning. These results suggest enhanced investigative training on recognizing crime scene and victim characteristics may aid in refining investigative approaches and hypotheses. The findings also suggest that distinguishing between sexual and non-sexual homicides may not be crucial, allowing for more streamlined investigations and better resource allocation. This research advocates for interdisciplinary collaboration to improve investigative accuracy, highlighting the pivotal role of understanding the interconnectedness of behaviors in understanding body disposal.

Sexual homicide: a descriptive analysis of demographics, behaviour, and body disposal in New Zealand

ABSTRACT As a rare and complex phenomenon, the study of sexual homicide continues to be understudied in international contexts. This exploratory study sought to address this gap, utilising a dataset of 26 sexual homicide incidents which took place in New Zealand between 1968 and 2022, sourced from both judicial sentencing reports and a Police database. Descriptive analyses revealed men were the most common perpetrators, with females being the predominant victims. The act of moving or concealing the body emerged as a prevalent behaviour. Significant variation was observed between incidents, with each involving unique and distinctive sexual behaviours, further emphasising the challenges in understanding this complex phenomenon. By shedding light on both the commonalities and distinctive features across sexual homicides in a unique sample, this research highlights the heterogeneity among homicide offences of this nature, and provides insight to support the prevention, investigation and intervention with sexual homicide in both a local and global context. PRACTICE IMPACT STATEMENT This study sheds light on the dynamics of sexual homicide in New Zealand, highlighting common trends and unique behaviours among perpetrators and victims. By informing more targeted investigation strategies, it contributes to the collective aim of improving responses to sexual violence at both a local and global level.

Understanding sexual homicide in Korea using machine learning algorithms.

The current study was conducted to confirm the characteristics in sexual homicide and to explore variables that effectively differentiate sexual homicide and nonsexual homicide. Further, newer methods that have received attention in criminology, such as the machine learning method, were used to explore the ideal algorithm for classifying sexual homicide and patterns for sexual homicide in Korea. To do this, 542 homicide cases were analyzed utilizing eight algorithms, and the classification performance of each algorithm was analyzed along with the importance of variables. The results of the analysis revealed that the Naive Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbors, and RF algorithms demonstrate good classification accuracy, and generally, factors such as relationships, marriage, planning, personal weapons, and overkill were identified as crucial variables that distinguish sexual homicide in Korea. In addition, the crime scene information of the crime occurring in the dark (at night) and body disposal were found to have high importance. The current study proposes ways to enhance the efficacy of crime investigation and advance the research on sexual homicides in Korea through a more scientific understanding of sexual homicide that has not been thoroughly explored domestically.

Concealment and Care in Deathcare During COVID

ABSTRACT: During the worst months of the COVID-19 pandemic, photojournalistic depictions of the havoc wreaked by the virus became ubiquitous. Images of physically distanced funerals and large-scale body disposal populated newsfeeds, but the labor and experiences of those working within these images—people handling bodies and guiding bereaved families—remained largely hidden from public view. Even before the pandemic, visibility and public recognition were complicated matters for the “deathcare” sector, as professionals cautiously constructed and defended the line separating the family-facing frontstage and industry-insider backstage. Our engagement with this sector through photography was motivated by a desire to illuminate the experiences of those working in deathcare during COVID outbreaks and lockdowns in Melbourne, Australia. Reflecting on photography as method in the study of death, we think through the complexities of seeing and unseeing, exposure and concealment in contemporary death rituals. The pandemic exposed certain realities of death and dying to the public but obfuscated others. Further, our ethnographic practice of portraiture revealed concealment to be a key element of the caring labors that deathcare workers perform.

Paying to pollute? The calculation of environmental indicators in crematorium burden sharing schemes

ABSTRACT This article addresses the role of calculations in shaping what numbers convey in crematorium burden sharing schemes. Two co-existing numerical indicators are present in these schemes, with one speaking to the limitation of environmental risk and another to exchange value generation. The environmental risk indicator emerges from the calculations present within environmental policy discussions, where numbers are measured against the damage of air emissions to the environment. Yet, burden sharing involves the introduction of new calculations that cultivate a second indicator of exchange value generation. These calculations are used to decide on the worth of environmental compliance afforded by emissions credits, correlating numbers with the generation of money and away from a focus on sustaining environmental health. The paper offers an empirically grounded contribution to the politics of the environmental disposal of the dead body by demonstrating how the use of numbers inside of crematorium burden sharing schemes reflects a tension between environmental and market-based values.

Legal regulation of human somatic rights: transplantation of human organs and biological tissues in Ukraine and foreign countries

The article examines the problems of legal regulation of transplantation of organs and tissues of the human body in Ukraine and foreign countries. Emphasis is placed on legal and ethical difficulties arising in the field of transplantology. It is noted that the right to «mechanize the body» has a number of specific features, namely: the specific nature of the object of these rights - the human body, which is the object of property rights and currently has mainly a monetary value expression; natural dependence on knowledge of biology, genetics, medicine, technology. Their existence and implementation are possible only with the help of achievements of scientific and technical progress; novelty, which has a different degree of expression, depending on the type of protected result of disposal of body or life; ambiguous attitude from the side of religion, morality, ethics, politics; inextricable connection with constitutional (fundamental) human rights in view of the special connection with personal (natural) rights and the peculiarity as an independent group of human rights; exclusivity in terms of its legal consequences in the process and as a result of their implementation. With any change in the physical embodiment of a person, the subjective aspect of legal relations changes, that is, many connections of various branches of legal regulation (civil, marital and family, constitutional, etc.) are affected; the degree of their recognition and implementation reflects the level of development of the state and society in general, etc. It is emphasized that individual somatic rights are reflected both in the legislation of Ukraine and in the legislation of foreign countries. For example, the right to transplant organs in national legislation is not used as a right to dispose of one's body, but as a certain necessity, a medical indication. In order to regulate the issue of organ donation, the legislation of individual states prescribes the practice of establishing special procedures for obtaining the donor's consent to extract a transplant from him (Belgium, Greece, Turkey). Given the lack of transplants for transplant operations, it is important to develop educational work at the state level, explaining to citizens the need to issue voluntary consents for the posthumous use of their donor material. It is worth making proposals for the development and adoption of the State Program of Ukraine aimed at the development of donation. This program should provide organizational, legal and preventive state measures for the promotion and development of legal donation in Ukraine; proposals for the development of a national legal mechanism aimed at encouraging voluntary posthumous donation, which would be based on the lifetime legally formalized consent of potential donors to the posthumous free use of their donor material.

Challenges in sourcing bodies for anatomy education and research in Ethiopia: Pre and post COVID-19 scenarios

BackgroundThe relevance of anatomical dissection in instructing anatomy to medical, dental, and other health science students is indisputable. Ethiopian anatomists encountered challenges in obtaining human bodies for anatomy education and research, both prior to and following the COVID-19 outbreak. The challenges intensified during the pandemic, significantly affecting anatomy education in Ethiopia. This study seeks to investigate the sources of bodies for anatomy, spanning the periods before and after COVID-19, with a particular focus on identifying the primary challenges associated with sourcing of bodies in Ethiopia. MethodsFifty (50) anatomists completed a survey distributed to ten (10) randomly chosen medical institutions in Ethiopia. The survey gathered information on the body profile (number of bodies, age, sex, sources, and methods of body disposal), and the challenges faced during the sourcing of bodies in the years 2018 and 2023. ResultsA total of sixty-three (63) bodies were used by the sampled medical institutions between 2018 and 2023 academic years. All (100%) of the bodies used were unclaimed human bodies. Most (66.7%) of these bodies were males. The majority (65.5%) of these bodies were sourced from Tikur Anbessa hospital in Addis Ababa. None (0%) of the sampled medical institutions had body donation programs. Disposal of human tissues encompassed various methods, including the retention of skeletons, prosection of vital organs, and burial of remaining tissues. Economic constraints and the absence of a legal framework document were the main challenges in acquiring bodies in the pre-pandemic period. The COVID-19 pandemic prevention policies and the civil war further exacerbated the challenges in sourcing of bodies for anatomy dissections during the post-pandemic period. ConclusionThe reliance on unclaimed human bodies for anatomy education and research in Ethiopian medical institutions mirrors a common practice across many African countries. The authors suggest the development of a legislative framework or operational guidelines, coupled with empowering the medical institutions to outsource their own funding that will ultimately lead to an increased number of bodies available for anatomical dissection. Over time, implementation and promotion of body donation programs may also resolve body shortages for anatomy education in Ethiopia.

Challenges and financial opportunities of the development of territorial communities in the conditions of war

The article analyzes the main trends in the financial capacity of development of territorial communities under the influence of the war with Russia. The dynamics of own revenues of local budgets of territorial communities across the regions of Ukraine were analyzed, taking into account the inflation index, the rate of growth of personal income tax from the financial support of military personnel, local taxes, and interbudgetary transfers. New, war-induced, financial challenges to the development of territorial communities are highlighted, namely: unforeseeable and numerous changes in the legal field, which required LGUs to constantly monitor them and change current plans; strengthening of the asymmetry of the development of territorial communities and the dependence of the level of financial capacity of the territorial community on the presence of a registered military unit on its territory; a decrease in the revenue part of local budgets due to a decrease in the amount of local taxes, the largest fee for land, a single tax, etc.; organizational problems of local tax collection that arose during the war; a decrease in capital investments due to government-imposed restrictions on special fund expenditures, a decrease in transfers from the state budget to local budgets, in particular, the amount of educational subventions and the need to increase expenditures on general secondary education from the own revenues of local budgets of territorial communities, and others. At the same time, in the conditions of the war, the communities had new opportunities for local development, in particular, the budgets of the territorial communities were replenished at a faster rate due to income tax on the income of individuals (PIT) from the financial support of military personnel. The «big bonus» of the most financially capable communities was the reverse subsidy, which for the most part remained at the disposal of local self-government bodies, which in turn increased the asymmetry of the financial capacity of the development of territorial communities and developed undesirable effects of procrastination.

On a general apogee formula for the disposal of satellites and rocket bodies below the geosynchronous protected region

The geosynchronous orbital region (GEO) is heavily used by satellites. To avoid the proliferation of space debris in this unique orbital environment, space debris mitigation guidelines define a protected region around the orbit and recommend disposal strategies that avoid long-term interference. For satellites operating in the GEO-protected region, a well-known formula was established that defines a minimum-perigee altitude, for a given eccentricity, that avoids drifting back into this regime after the end of the mission. This formula, found in the IADC space debris mitigation guidelines, suggests disposal in near-circular, long-term ‘stable’ orbits above the GEO-protected region, whereby the altitude of perigee is beyond 235 km plus a factor accounting for the solar radiation pressure perturbations. Recently, an extension of this formula that also accounts for the inclination has been suggested. With the advent of direct launch into GEO, whereby either a rocket body or satellite is left in an orbit below the protected region, the natural question arises whether a similar formula can be found for the apogee of disposal orbits below the protected region. The presented work investigates the dynamics of the sub-GEO region and establishes and validates an upper-apogee-difference limit for a time span of at least 100 years. Moreover, the practical implication of such a strategy on the delta-V budget of a mission is assessed.

Naked body disposal: an indicator of the type of sexual homicide

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate whether sexual homicide offenders (SHO) who dispose of the victim’s body naked present with particular crime scene characteristics.Design/methodology/approachThis study aims to answer this question through the use of a sequential logistic regression to test the individual effects of each set of crime scene variables against the manner of disposal using a sample of 662 solved cases of extrafamilial sexual homicide from an international database.FindingsResults demonstrated that the modus operandi behaviors of sexual penetration, asphyxiation, dismemberment and overkill were significantly associated with the body being disposed of naked. In addition, removing or destroying evidence from the scene was also significantly associated with a naked victim. In contrast, the body was more likely to be dumped clothed if the contact scene was deserted and the victim was a stranger. These results suggest that SHOs who dispose of the body naked are more in line with the sadistic sexual murderer, while clothed victims are often disposed of by angry offenders.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the particular manner of disposing the victim’s body naked in cases of sexual homicide.

Life of the death system: shifting regimes, evolving practices, and the rise of eco-funerals

Despite growing awareness of our environmental footprint in life, the ecological impact of death is rarely considered. Yet conventional funeral practices pose a risk to both human and environmental health by polluting the earth and contributing to climate change, thus calling for more sustainable methods of body disposal. Although various eco-funeral options have been gaining momentum in the United States, they have not yet been adopted into mainstream culture. Drawing on empirical data from participatory site observations and semi-structured interviews with funeral professionals, this study examines the factors that are driving or hindering widespread uptake of eco-funerals in the country. A multilevel panarchy framework is then used to situate these evolving funeral practices within the broader historical context. This article offers two important contributions: 1) it adds a novel frontier to the understanding of sustainable social practices by exploring death practices, and 2) it furthers theoretical and practical insights into the dynamic interactions between micro-level practices and macro-level developments within system transitions.

Management of unidentified and unclaimed bodies: a comparison of model from four countries in the Asia Pacific Region.

Managing mass fatality incidents or disasters involving multiple deaths are not uncommon among forensic practitioners. In fact, management of unidentified or unknown bodies is also a vital component of the day-to-day mortuary work practice. The unidentified and subsequently unclaimed bodies have always been a "silent mass disaster," a problem that needs to be tackled within the forensic community and raises the global issue of ethics, law, and human rights. Unidentified bodies' in Malaysia make up an average of 4.02% of all death cases where a total postmortem examination was performed which is comparable with other developing countries within 4-10% which can go up to 25%. Moreover, unstandardized procedures in all mortuaries in different states and districts in Malaysia have worsened the scenario even with guidelines in place. This study aims to address the issues surrounding unidentified and unclaimed bodies including body disposal from a social and legal perspective using case study methodology by comparing four different countries in the Asia Pacific Region through document analysis and interview methods. One of the major findings is evident in 3 out of the 4 models, whereby there is a considerable gap in consolidating the missing person report and information to match with the unidentified bodies received in forensic institutions in an attempt to enhance the identification process which ultimately intends as a closure for the family members. It is also timely to think out of the box beyond dental records and DNA profiling to improve the identification rate for skeletonized remains through means of anthropology biometrics comparison. With the limited literature published surrounding this domain, it is hoped that the suggestions and recommendations to standardize the management of unidentified and unclaimed bodies can benefit many forensic institutions and public mortuaries in this region.

The exploration of the psychological states, traits, and characteristics of non-organised crime homicide offenders in the commissioning of homicide

The psychological state, traits, and characteristics of non-organised crime homicide offenders (NOCHO) and their body disposal methods is not a subject that has historically been explored. This research seeks to identify the specific states, traits and characteristics exhibited by NOCHO’s and predict body disposal methods, in order to aid criminal investigators and profilers faced with disorganised crime scenes. This research adopts a Rapid Evidence Assessment methodology to analyse the existing scientific evidence base between 2002 to 2022, providing a contemporary understanding of this area. Findings revealed that NOCHO’s are often delusional, impulsive, socially inadequate, unable to maintain interpersonal relationships, have higher rates of personality disorders, have criminal histories, are withdrawn, and use drugs or alcohol. Findings made throughout this series of studies will contribute to knowledge within this field.

Deadly Marburg virus in Ghana, 2022 amidst monkeypox and COVID-19 pandemic: A distressing concern for public health.

Deadly Marburg virus in Ghana, 2022 amidst monkeypox and COVID-19 pandemic: A distressing concern for public health.

Conceptualising the ‘Administration of the Dead’: Cadavers, war and public health in the early 20th century

AbstractThis article examines the relative absence of historical literature pertaining to the battlefield disposal of military corpses during and shortly after the First World War. It posits that while First World War Studies constitute an enormously rich field of research, scholars are yet to consider corpses and their disposal as a central topic of investigation, as is the case with other disciplines and historians of other conflicts. To address this lacuna, this article proposes the notion of ‘administration of the dead’ that may serve to both conceptualise and explore how First World War battlefield body disposal was performed. This article demonstrates the rich avenues that this topic opens to historians and sketches out areas of investigation such as the administrative, medical and technological dimensions of body disposal in the First World War.

The Practice of Death Certification by Grama Niladhari and the Birth and Death Registration Act: A Review with Reforms

<p class="Default">It is a legal requirement to enter a death in the death register in Sri Lanka. When a person dies under different circumstances there are different institutions and processes involved in getting a death certificate for the disposal of a dead body in Sri Lanka. The key authority can vary from a medical practitioner who has treated the deceased during the last illness to inquire into the sudden death, magistrate, Grama Niladhari (GN) police officer, or estate superintendent. In 1954 when the birth and death registration act was enacted with the available infrastructure at that time the system of death certification by GN was probably the best way for the people of this country. The system of death certification by GN and the Birth and Death Registration Act in our country have many inherent weaknesses. While improvements that require legislative amendments and formulation of policy decisions may take a considerable time period for implementation, there are other short-term solutions which could be adopted to achieve a significant level of accuracy and efficiency from the existing system. It is recommended that the present system of releasing dead bodies by GN should be modified to suit our country’s specific requirements within the capacity of its limited resources than introducing a totally alien system. In conclusion, it can be said that the need to bring reforms to the present system of death registration in Sri Lanka, that had remained static since its introduction, is a matter of great importance.

Tackling Lacunae in International Courts and Tribunals’ Procedure: The Role of External Precedent

Abstract International courts and tribunals are frequently faced with the need to fill lacunae in their own rules of procedure. Among the many tools at the disposal of adjudicative bodies, external precedent emerges as one of the most flexible and intuitive, allowing to “borrow” from the procedure of other bodies. This paper offers an overview of how international courts and tribunals use external precedent on procedural matters in the context of a number of typical gap-filling techniques. To this end, it delves into the possibility of employing external precedent as a subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law, as an instrument for carrying out systemic interpretation, and as a way of invoking and delimiting inherent powers. Through this analysis, the paper questions the view according to which recourse to external precedent necessarily contributes to the legitimacy of international courts and tribunals. It shows that, at least in procedural matters, this nexus is not straightforward and varies according to the context in which reference to external precedent is made.

Back from the dead: Another response to the contextual bases of the Rising Star ‘deliberate body disposal’ hypothesis

Back from the dead: Another response to the contextual bases of the Rising Star ‘deliberate body disposal’ hypothesis

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices among Public Health Professionals towards COVID-19 in India

World is suffering from a pandemic situation due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) since December 2019. In this emergency, everyone at individual/country/global level is trying to contribute at their best with their available knowledge and resources. However, more and more research and developmental activities are going on but, the reality is far away for a grass-root level health professional. They rely on the indirect sources, that is, published or unpublished literature, social media, internet etc. Many a time, these sources may share an unrealistic or false positive/negative information. Our study was intended to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices related to COVID-19 among the healthcare professionals of different levels. We conducted an online survey after the initiation of the first lockdown in India. Our research team in consultation with the subject experts designed a mix method-based study tool and shared it by sending emails to 1,200 participants. A total of 180 respondents participated in the online survey of which 34% were government health professionals and 24% were working with a research/academic institution. All participants were between 23 and 74 years age group (mean 39 years). Participants shared their views on first, knowledge about symptoms, preventive measures and treatment options for COVID-19. Second, on attitude towards handling COVID-19 pandemic using social distancing, following lockdown and travel advisory, etc. Third, on the practice of non-pharmaceutical measures to prevent COVID-19. We found that the social media platform acted as one of the most important platforms for awareness generation regarding COVID-19 but it was also generating stigma among people. Till the time of the survey, there is still a dearth of knowledge about social distancing and what it means, especially physical distance of 1–3 metres and correct usage of mask in different situations. Various important issues pertaining to infant feeding practices, mother and childcare and disposal of dead bodies of COVID infected persons require deliberations and awareness.

Believing and the disposal of bodies after death.

Believing and the disposal of bodies after death.