Forensic Dentistry, Second Edition

abuse 373

The report indicates that:

•   Approximately one-third of female murder victims were killed by

an intimate.

•   Approximately 3% of male murder victims were killed by an intimate.

•    Of all female murder victims, the proportion killed by an intimate

declined slightly until 1995, when the proportion began increasing (most

reports indicate that the rate has been stabilizing in recent years).

•   Of male murder victims, the proportion killed by an intimate has

dropped during the reporting period.

•   Annually, at least fifteen hundred women were murder victims from

domestic violence.

•   Approximately one-third of injuries presenting to the emergency

department were nonaccidental—the result of deliberate, intentional

acts of violence.

•    Approximately one-third of women over the age of fifteen who are homi-

cide victims were killed by their husbands, ex-husbands, or boyfriends.

Homicides may also result in the murderer taking his or her own life

following the violent act that resulted in the death of the intimate partner.

It has been reported that 74% of all murder-suicides involved an intimate

partner. Of these reported cases, 96% were females killed by their intimate

partner, with 75% of these cases occurring within the home.^10

Figure 15.2 physical injuries associated with a sexual assault on a fifteen-year-
old g i rl. note f ac i a l i nj u r ie s i nc lud i n g a p at te r ne d i nj u r y on r i g ht c he ek ( b y h i st or y ,
a bitemark inflicted during the assault).