NCJ Number
213756
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 51 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2006 Pages: 396-399
Date Published
March 2006
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This study reviewed the characteristics of all burn-related cases involving victims 17 years old and younger that were referred to the Medical University of South Carolina Forensic Pathology Section from January 1975 to December 2002 (28-year period).
Abstract
Data were obtained on the victim's age, sex, and race; type of burn injury; reported location (where the incident occurred); time of year; cause and manner of death; scene history; perpetrator; injury-death time interval; and autopsy and toxicology findings. Of the 124 cases studied, 108 were classified as accidents, 12 as homicides, and 4 as undetermined. The 12 homicides consisted of 9 fire-related fatalities and 3 scald deaths. All homicides involved victims 1-8 years old. Eleven of the homicides occurred at home, and 1 was in a vehicle. Perpetrators of the eight home-fire homicides were mothers in five cases, a sister in one case, and undetermined in two cases. The three homicidal scaldings involved victims 1-2 years old. In addition to providing data from the South Carolina study, this paper also reports on a literature review of research on childhood burns. The literature indicates that the most common types of childhood burns are scalds (48 percent), flame burns (28 percent), and contact burns (11 percent). The majority of fatal childhood burn injuries are fire-related. Males have a slightly higher burn-related death rate than females; and Black children are at greater risk for burns than White children. A 1998 study found that a child 3 years old or under from a single-parent, poor family and with a scald or thermal-contact burn was most likely to have been intentionally burned. Inflicted burns are reported to have a characteristics pattern, which must be linked with a specific history, these patterns are described by the authors. 1 figure and 15 references