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Objective: Child sexual offenders are a poorly studied and relatively neglected population in our country. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between criminal behavior and socio-demographic characteristics of a series of child sexual offenders. Materials and Methods: The records of social worker interviews with 48 child sexual offenders between 2009 and 2013 were used. The reports issued by social workers regarding child sexual offenders were retrospectively examined, since these reports were relatively the most thorough documents including offenders' personal and familial characteristics, and criminal event information. Cases were investigated in terms of socio-demographic and psycho-social characteristics. Results: There were 48 children interviewed based on an alleged sexual crime, during four-year of study period. All of the cases were male and their ages ranged between 12 and 17 years. Of these, 50% were students at any grade of school. Five cases were living in social service facilities. Only two cases involved incest. Of all, three offenders were accused of repeated sexual crimes. Type of sexual assault was anal penetration in 20 (41.7%) cases. Of all cases, 19 were cigarette smoker, while 4 were drug abusers. The families of 12 (25%) cases suffered from low socio-economic status, while 23 (47.9%) offenders were members of broken families. According to social worker reports, 47 cases had criminal responsibility based on their psychosocial development. Out of all cases, 7 children were suspected of suffering from impulse control disorder and one was suspected to be mentally retarded. Twelve cases were reported to need consulting and social protective services. Conclusion: The rate of offenders with interrupted education was considerably high. Interestingly the number of male victims and the frequency of cases involving anal penetration were high. Obtained results suggest that male children of broken and scattered families, and particularly those lacking father's supervision were more likely to commit a sexual crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are several studies suggesting models for firing distance estimation due to pellet dispersion, but few of them consider the degree of choke of a shotgun. The purpose of this research is to suggest some models for estimation of the firing distance for choked and cylinder bore shotguns. Twelve gauge with full chokes, and 12 and 16 gauge with cylinder bore shotguns were fired with #2 and #5 shots from 75, 100, 300, 500, and 1000 cm distances. Statistically significant pellet dispersion values were found for each shotgun by using #2 and #5 shots for different firing distances. All the data obtained were analyzed with linear regression and four models were constituted. Investigators should use special formulae for each shotgun, degree of choke, and pellet type while determining the firing distance. Therefore, more experimental and comparative studies should be designed for each type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we aim to compare clinical diagnoses and post-mortem diagnoses of explosion-related deaths and identify the unrevealed diagnoses missed by physicians. Forensic autopsy reports of three years between January 2012 and December 2014 were collected retrospectively and 277 explosion-related deaths are included in the study. Out of 277 cases, 245 (88.4%) of them are male and 32 (11.6%) of them are female. The mean age is 27.8 years. The mean injury severity score is 37.8 ± 14.54.90 and 32.5% of the cases died in the first 24 h after getting injured. The most frequent injury is head injury (39.0%) and the second most frequent is injuries to multiple body regions (27.8%). Of eight cases of lower extremity injuries, six were found to have injuries of large vessels in post-mortem examinations. Our conclusion is that injury severity scores in cases of explosion-related injuries are higher than those in cases of general trauma. The frequency of missed diagnoses is higher in cases of vessel injuries and multiple injuries. It can be thought that small but lethal lesions can be overlooked when a major trauma is dealt with. In addition, injuries of the internal organs due to blast effects without any macroscopic examination findings can be misleading for physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concept of age estimation plays an important role on both civil law and regulation of criminal behaviors. In forensic medicine, age estimation is practiced for individual requests as well for request of the court. In this study it is aimed to compile the methods of age estimation and to make recommendations for the solution of the problems encountered. In radiological method the epiphyseal lines of the bones and views of the teeth are used. In order to estimate the age by comparing bone radiographs; Greulich-Pyle Atlas (GPA), Tanner-Whitehouse Atlas (TWA) and "Adli Tıpta Yaş Tayini (ATYT)" books are used. Bone age is found to be 2 years older averagely than chronologic age, especially in puberty, according to the forensic age estimations described in the ATYT book. For the age estimation with teeth, Demirjian method is used. In time different methods are developed by modifying Demirjian method. However no accurate method was found. Histopathological studies are done on bone marrow cellularity and dermis cells. No correlation was found between histopathoogical findings and choronologic age. Important ethical and legal issues are brought with current age estimation methods especially in teenage period. Therefore it is required to prepare atlases of bone age compatible with our society by collecting the findings of the studies in Turkey. Another recommendation could be to pay attention to the courts of age raising trials of teenage women and give special emphasis on birth and population records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Evaluation of the substances used, macroscopic and microscopic autopsy findings, and the manner of corrosive ingestion deaths in Istanbul are aimed in this study. Methods: The autopsy records of the corrosive ingestion cases in Istanbul, Turkey, between 1992 and 2001 are investigated in our retrospective descriptive study. Results: The cause of death was determined as “corrosive injury” in 23 (0.089%) cases among 25,763 autopsy cases. Among these cases one was in the child age group and the corrosive substance ingestion was accidental, whereas all the other cases were adults and the ingestion was for suicidal intent. Sixteen (69.6%) of the cases were female. Nitric acid was the most frequent agent with 13 cases (56.5%). Necrosis of esophagus was determined in 19 cases (82.6%) and perforation of stomach in 11 cases (47.8%). Conclusion: Guidance and education are important tools for prevention from corrosive injuries, but we believe that the best weapon is to restrict easy access to corrosive agents by prohibiting the free commercialization of these most potent agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intentional inhalation or abuse of volatile substances is a common public health problem all over the world. As these substances generate euphoria frequency of use among adolescents and young adults is increasing steadily. In cases using inhalants to achieve a euphoric state -without knowing possible consequences- sudden death may occur due to acute cardio-pulmonary dysfunction. Here we present a case of sudden death of a nineteen-year-old female due to inhalation of volatile from butane containing lighter gas tube, with the findings of autopsy and death scene investigation. In the context of this case; it was aimed to draw attention to the risk of sudden death and steady increase of frequency of volatile substance abuse among adolescents and young adults due to various psycho-social factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]