背景:在突尼斯,自2011年1月革命以来,媒体对暴力有相当大的兴趣,尤其是杀人。一个流行的观点是,除了任何出于政治动机的杀戮,凶杀案逐年上升.在没有突尼斯国家凶杀统计的情况下,可以从区域病理学家的记录中获得更准确的图片。
目的:从突尼斯第二大行政区的验尸数据中检查年度凶杀率,Sfax,城乡混合人口约100万人。
方法:该地区所有普通法杀人案的受害者都被带到斯法克斯一家医院的法医部门。我们对从2011年1月14日突尼斯政府垮台之日至2019年12月31日的9年期间的所有此类杀人案件进行了回顾性和描述性研究,并将这些数据与同一部门早期研究的数据相关联。
结果:在这九年期间,确认了109名非法杀人的受害者,平均每年有12起案件,2016年达到17起案件的峰值,大致一致的比率为每10万居民1.2起凶杀案,波动没有一致的模式。超过三分之二的受害者是男性。受害者的平均年龄为34.85岁(范围8-90岁)。不到一半的人已婚(45%);最大的就业群体是低薪临时工(40%)或失业者(28%)。三分之一的杀戮发生在私人住宅中,人际冲突是最大的解释类别;超过四分之一是家庭内部的,14%是亲密伴侣之间的。有一些季节性变化,近三分之二的凶杀案发生在春季和夏季。
结论:与媒体炒作相反,我们没有发现突尼斯南部凶杀率上升的证据,尽管这确实代表了与该国北部不同的情况。季节性变化值得进一步探索,因为它引发了有关心理健康波动影响的问题。
BACKGROUND: In Tunisia, since the January 2011 revolution, there has been considerable media interest in violence, particularly homicides. A popular perspective is, aside from any politically motivated killings, of a rise in homicides from year to year. In the absence of Tunisian national homicide statistics, a more accurate picture may be obtainable from area pathologist records.
OBJECTIVE: To examine annual homicide rates from post-mortem data for the second largest administrative area of Tunisia, Sfax, with a mixed urban-rural population of about one million people.
METHODS: All victims of common law homicide for the region are taken to the forensic department of one hospital in Sfax. We conducted a retrospective and descriptive
study of all such cases of homicide for the 9 year period from the date of the fall of the Tunisian government in 14 January 2011 to 31 December 2019 and linked these data to those from earlier studies in the same department.
RESULTS: One hundred and nine victims of unlawful homicide were identified during this nine year period, with an average of 12 cases per year and a peak of 17 cases in 2016, yielding a broadly consistent rate of 1.2 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants and no consistent pattern in fluctuations. Just over two-thirds of the victims were men. Mean age of victims was 34.85 years (range 8-90 years). Just under half were married (45%); largest employment groups were of low-paid casual workers (40%) or unemployed (28%). One third of the killings had taken place in a private residence, with interpersonal conflict given as the largest explanatory category; over one quarter were intra-familial and 14% between intimate partners. There was some seasonal variation, with nearly two-thirds of homicides occurring in the spring and summer months.
CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to press hype, we found no evidence of rising homicide rates in Southern Tunisia, although this does represent a different picture from that in the north of the country. The seasonal variation would merit further exploration as it raises questions around impact of fluctuations in mental health.