Evaluation of Non-Fatal Injuries with Relation to Where Assaults Occur

Authors: YASEMİN GÜNAY BALCI, SONGÜL ACAR VAİZOĞLU, ÇAĞATAY GÜLER

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to determine where injuries due to violence mostly occur and to find differences (if present) among where the assaults places in 334 patients who sustained injuries due to reasons other than accidents, randomly selected from the medical records and files of those referred to the Department of Traumatology of the Council of Forensic Medicine between 1 January and 31 December 1998 in İstanbul. The majority of both the injured (82.9%) and the accused (96.3%) were males. The distribution of places where assaults occurred in the order of frequency was as follows; workplaces (37.4%), outdoors (26.6%), homes (20.7%), and places of entertainment (9.9%). While females were often victims of violence in homes, males were affected elsewhere more frequently (p<0.001). In terms of the seasons during which the incidents occur, no significant difference was found among the scenes of crime. Violence mostly prevailed between 12:00 and 18:00 hours in workplaces and outdoors, whereas it showed peak incidence in places of entertainment and homes between 18:00 and 24:00 hours. While penetrating injuries were more abundant in places of entertainment, workplaces and outdoors, blunt injuries were mostly encountered in homes. Victims are mostly injured by their spouse and close relatives (43.1%) in homes, and by their neighbours and friends (44%) in workplaces.

Keywords: Violence, injury, places of assault

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