Homicide among Indigenous South Australians: a forty-year study (1969-2008)

dc.contributor.authorTemlett, J.
dc.contributor.authorByard, R.
dc.date.issued2012
dc.description.abstractA retrospective review of homicide cases among Aboriginal people in South Australia examined at Forensic Science SA was undertaken over a 40-year period from 1969 to 2008. A total of 90 Indigenous homicide victims were identified compared to 599 non-Indigenous victims over the same time period. Although homicide rates have fallen, the Indigenous homicide rate (ranging from 73.5 to 223.97 per 100,000) significantly exceeded the non-Indigenous rate (ranging from 8.16 to 12.6 per 100,000) for all decades (p<0.001). The most common methods of homicide in the Indigenous population involved blunt force and sharp force trauma, with gunshot, strangulation and other forms of homicides being encountered less often. While lack of access to firearms may explain the lower numbers of gunshot deaths it would not explain the low numbers of deaths due to strangulation. Considerable variability may, therefore, exist in the types of unnatural deaths that may be found in different cultural and ethnic groups, even within the same community.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityJulia Temlett and Roger W. Byard
dc.identifier.citationJournal of Clinical Forensic and Legal Medicine: an international journal of forensic and legal medicine, 2012; 19(8):445-447
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.jflm.2011.12.027
dc.identifier.issn1752-928X
dc.identifier.issn1878-7487
dc.identifier.orcidByard, R. [0000-0002-0524-5942]
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/74428
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherChurchill Livingstone
dc.rights© 2012 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jflm.2011.12.027
dc.subjectHumans
dc.subjectWounds and Injuries
dc.subjectAsphyxia
dc.subjectRetrospective Studies
dc.subjectForensic Medicine
dc.subjectAge Distribution
dc.subjectSex Distribution
dc.subjectHomicide
dc.subjectAdolescent
dc.subjectAdult
dc.subjectMiddle Aged
dc.subjectCrime Victims
dc.subjectAustralia
dc.subjectFemale
dc.subjectMale
dc.subjectYoung Adult
dc.titleHomicide among Indigenous South Australians: a forty-year study (1969-2008)
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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