Forensic Pathological Study of 115 Deaths in Custody in China

Xinshan Chen; Jinshui Lei; Cheng Lv; Kaiyi Liu; Jie Yan

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12

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Forensic Pathological Study of 115 Deaths in Custody in China

Xinshan Chen, Jinshui Lei, Cheng Lv, Kaiyi Liu, Jie Yan

Published in International Journal of Law and Society (Volume 6, Issue 2)

Received: 1 February 2023 Accepted: 24 February 2023 Published: 20 April 2023

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Abstract

Deaths in custody or during contact with law enforcement attract considerable public concern. A retrospective study was undertaken involving 115 autopsied cases of people who died in custody from 2000 to 2009. The cases are from the files of the Department of Forensic Pathology, Tongji Medical College, HUST, Wuhan. There was a preponderance of males (113 cases) with only two (2) deaths of women. The age range of the males was from 15 to 77 years. 96 (83.5%) of these males were young adults ranging in age from 20 to 49 year. 70 (60.9%) were peasants. The interval between death and autopsy of 53 (46.1%) cases was within 48 h. Of the 111 cases with known causes of death, most of them (83 cases, 72.1%) died of natural disease and the remainder were violent deaths. Regarding the manner of death: 83 cases were natural deaths, of which 39 (47%) were from cardiovascular disease; 23 cases were suicide; 5 cases were accidental death; 4 cases were undetermined. These data are consistent with the fact that most criminal offenders are young adult men and that the main causes of death in custody are natural. Suicide is a well recognized phenomenon amongst deaths in custody globally and prevention of suicide is a significant challenge for custodial authorities. It is suggested that all police and law enforcement units should strengthen efforts to prevent and manage natural disease in custody.

Published in	International Journal of Law and Society (Volume 6, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12
Page(s)	120-123
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Custody Deaths, Autopsy, Cause of Death, Forensic Pathology

References

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APA Style

Xinshan Chen, Jinshui Lei, Cheng Lv, Kaiyi Liu, Jie Yan. (2023). Forensic Pathological Study of 115 Deaths in Custody in China. International Journal of Law and Society, 6(2), 120-123. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12

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ACS Style

Xinshan Chen; Jinshui Lei; Cheng Lv; Kaiyi Liu; Jie Yan. Forensic Pathological Study of 115 Deaths in Custody in China. Int. J. Law Soc. 2023, 6(2), 120-123. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12

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AMA Style

Xinshan Chen, Jinshui Lei, Cheng Lv, Kaiyi Liu, Jie Yan. Forensic Pathological Study of 115 Deaths in Custody in China. Int J Law Soc. 2023;6(2):120-123. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12,
  author = {Xinshan Chen and Jinshui Lei and Cheng Lv and Kaiyi Liu and Jie Yan},
  title = {Forensic Pathological Study of 115 Deaths in Custody in China},
  journal = {International Journal of Law and Society},
  volume = {6},
  number = {2},
  pages = {120-123},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijls.20230602.12},
  abstract = {Deaths in custody or during contact with law enforcement attract considerable public concern. A retrospective study was undertaken involving 115 autopsied cases of people who died in custody from 2000 to 2009. The cases are from the files of the Department of Forensic Pathology, Tongji Medical College, HUST, Wuhan. There was a preponderance of males (113 cases) with only two (2) deaths of women. The age range of the males was from 15 to 77 years. 96 (83.5%) of these males were young adults ranging in age from 20 to 49 year. 70 (60.9%) were peasants. The interval between death and autopsy of 53 (46.1%) cases was within 48 h. Of the 111 cases with known causes of death, most of them (83 cases, 72.1%) died of natural disease and the remainder were violent deaths. Regarding the manner of death: 83 cases were natural deaths, of which 39 (47%) were from cardiovascular disease; 23 cases were suicide; 5 cases were accidental death; 4 cases were undetermined. These data are consistent with the fact that most criminal offenders are young adult men and that the main causes of death in custody are natural. Suicide is a well recognized phenomenon amongst deaths in custody globally and prevention of suicide is a significant challenge for custodial authorities. It is suggested that all police and law enforcement units should strengthen efforts to prevent and manage natural disease in custody.},
 year = {2023}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Forensic Pathological Study of 115 Deaths in Custody in China
AU - Xinshan Chen
AU - Jinshui Lei
AU - Cheng Lv
AU - Kaiyi Liu
AU - Jie Yan
Y1 - 2023/04/20
PY - 2023
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12
DO - 10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12
T2 - International Journal of Law and Society
JF - International Journal of Law and Society
JO - International Journal of Law and Society
SP - 120
EP - 123
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2640-1908
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12
AB - Deaths in custody or during contact with law enforcement attract considerable public concern. A retrospective study was undertaken involving 115 autopsied cases of people who died in custody from 2000 to 2009. The cases are from the files of the Department of Forensic Pathology, Tongji Medical College, HUST, Wuhan. There was a preponderance of males (113 cases) with only two (2) deaths of women. The age range of the males was from 15 to 77 years. 96 (83.5%) of these males were young adults ranging in age from 20 to 49 year. 70 (60.9%) were peasants. The interval between death and autopsy of 53 (46.1%) cases was within 48 h. Of the 111 cases with known causes of death, most of them (83 cases, 72.1%) died of natural disease and the remainder were violent deaths. Regarding the manner of death: 83 cases were natural deaths, of which 39 (47%) were from cardiovascular disease; 23 cases were suicide; 5 cases were accidental death; 4 cases were undetermined. These data are consistent with the fact that most criminal offenders are young adult men and that the main causes of death in custody are natural. Suicide is a well recognized phenomenon amongst deaths in custody globally and prevention of suicide is a significant challenge for custodial authorities. It is suggested that all police and law enforcement units should strengthen efforts to prevent and manage natural disease in custody.
VL - 6
IS - 2
ER -

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Author Information

Xinshan Chen

Department of Forensic Pathology, Tongji Medcial College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Jinshui Lei

Forensic Science Center of Jinzhou Public Security Bureau, Jingzhou, China
Cheng Lv

Department of Forensic Pathology, Tongji Medcial College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Kaiyi Liu

Department of Forensic Pathology, Tongji Medcial College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Jie Yan

Department of Forensic Pathology, Tongji Medcial College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

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Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Xinshan Chen, Jinshui Lei, Cheng Lv, Kaiyi Liu, Jie Yan. (2023). Forensic Pathological Study of 115 Deaths in Custody in China. International Journal of Law and Society, 6(2), 120-123. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12

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ACS Style

Xinshan Chen; Jinshui Lei; Cheng Lv; Kaiyi Liu; Jie Yan. Forensic Pathological Study of 115 Deaths in Custody in China. Int. J. Law Soc. 2023, 6(2), 120-123. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12

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AMA Style

Xinshan Chen, Jinshui Lei, Cheng Lv, Kaiyi Liu, Jie Yan. Forensic Pathological Study of 115 Deaths in Custody in China. Int J Law Soc. 2023;6(2):120-123. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12

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@article{10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12,
  author = {Xinshan Chen and Jinshui Lei and Cheng Lv and Kaiyi Liu and Jie Yan},
  title = {Forensic Pathological Study of 115 Deaths in Custody in China},
  journal = {International Journal of Law and Society},
  volume = {6},
  number = {2},
  pages = {120-123},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20230602.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijls.20230602.12},
  abstract = {Deaths in custody or during contact with law enforcement attract considerable public concern. A retrospective study was undertaken involving 115 autopsied cases of people who died in custody from 2000 to 2009. The cases are from the files of the Department of Forensic Pathology, Tongji Medical College, HUST, Wuhan. There was a preponderance of males (113 cases) with only two (2) deaths of women. The age range of the males was from 15 to 77 years. 96 (83.5%) of these males were young adults ranging in age from 20 to 49 year. 70 (60.9%) were peasants. The interval between death and autopsy of 53 (46.1%) cases was within 48 h. Of the 111 cases with known causes of death, most of them (83 cases, 72.1%) died of natural disease and the remainder were violent deaths. Regarding the manner of death: 83 cases were natural deaths, of which 39 (47%) were from cardiovascular disease; 23 cases were suicide; 5 cases were accidental death; 4 cases were undetermined. These data are consistent with the fact that most criminal offenders are young adult men and that the main causes of death in custody are natural. Suicide is a well recognized phenomenon amongst deaths in custody globally and prevention of suicide is a significant challenge for custodial authorities. It is suggested that all police and law enforcement units should strengthen efforts to prevent and manage natural disease in custody.},
 year = {2023}
}

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