Profiling Players Involved in Overkill: An Analysis of 71 Cases in Central Italy

Abstract

“Overkill” is characterized by the finding of excessive wounds on the victim’s body. Despite the large use of this term, it does not have a definition in the literature yet. Our study aimed to analyze the information related to the dynamics of overkill cases, collecting objective variables, and producing a profile of the players involved in this type of homicides. Data on 71 overkill cases from reports of the autopsies performed in the Section of Legal Medicine of the University of Rome Tor Vergata from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2020 were collected. The victims and the perpetrators of overkill shared similar characteristics: they were usually male aged between 20 and 50 years, more likely in the 20–35 years range; victims however also showed another age peak in the range 50–55 years. The type of damage can be linked to the sole action of a cold weapon or the simultaneous use of multiple harmful tools with no significant differences. The most common motive proved to be a dispute for futile reasons; however, in the case of a single perpetrator of the crime, the economic and passionate motives are as frequent as the previous one. Implications of the findings and avenues for future research are discussed.

A Retrospective Analysis of Familicide in Latium (Italy): A Criminological Profile of the Victims and Offenders Involved in 29 Cases and a Comparison with the Literature

“…As known, autopsy findings can provide significant forensic evidence, potentially confirming or refuting hypotheses about the circumstances of familicide [14]. Our study demonstrated a high level of severity of victim injuries, with the predominant number of injuries per victim being about 12, confirming that familicide is often characterized by overkill, signifying intense anger or rage [11,15,16]. From this count, asphyxiation and fire burns were excluded, as they are less frequent, but this may hint at the nature of the event, the level of planning involved, and the offender's state of mind [10].…”

Forensic Autopsy Implementation in Unnatural Deaths to Achieve Material Truth

“…Whether or not there is a relationship between the modus operandi (the way a person acts) and the cause of death of the victim can be known if an autopsy is performed on the victim's body. Clarity on whether or not there is a relationship between the modus operandi and the cause of death is an urgent matter to be used as evidence in court (Bakhtiar et al, 2019;Flora, 2019;Solarino et al, 2019;Tavone et al, 2022).…”