NCJ Number
89033
Journal
American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology Volume: 4 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1983) Pages: 129-137
Date Published
1983
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This paper reports a study of characteristics of homicide in childhood by reviewing 29 medical examiner-autopsied children under 10 years of age who died under suspicious circumstances in Cook County, Ill., in the first half of 1981.
Abstract
A total of 17 died by homicide and 12 by an undetermined manner; 11 cases occurred in January. The city victims came from neighborhoods characterized by poverty and female-headed households, consistent with the ecological model of child abuse. Eleven victims were infants: seven female, five white. The older victims were increasingly male and black. Mean ages differed markedly for different types of injuries, with central nervous system and miscellaneous injuries typical in infancy, arson and beatings in toddler/preschool ages, and gunshot and pedestrian injuries in the school years. The data suggest that there are three clinically distinguishable types of homicide in childhood related to developmental characteristics of the victims; infanticide, fatal child abuse and neglect after infancy, and murder in the community. Tables and 43 references are supplied. (Author abstract modified)