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Spatial relationships among offender, knife, and victim during slashing attacks: implications for crime scene reconstruction

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A Correction to this article was published on 25 April 2024

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Abstract

Background

The offender-victim spatial relationship is crucial in reconstructing a crime scene. The study aims to evaluate the spatial relationship of performing slashing attacks on a dummy using a Chinese kitchen knife, and thus to establish a scientific basis for crime scene reconstruction.

Methods

Twenty-four participants (12 males and 12 females) slashed a dummy’s neck or chest using a kitchen knife, and the kinematic data were obtained using a three-dimensional motion capture system. The spatial relationships among offender, knife, and victim during slashing attacks were analyzed.

Results

Slashing distance and occupancy area are significantly influenced by gender (all P < 0.05), with males having higher values than females. Body parts significantly influence bevel angle, offender and victim azimuth angles, slashing distance, relative slashing distance, and occupancy area (all P < 0.01), with slashing the chest resulting in larger values than slashing the neck.

Conclusion

Gender and body position significantly influence the spatial relationships of slashing action. Our data indicate that males stand farther away and occupy a larger area during slashing attacks. When the chest is slashed, the wound orientation is more diagonal, the offender’s standing position and slashing distance are farther, and the occupancy area is larger compared to the neck. The findings could help identify the spatial relationships among offender, knife, and victim, providing a scientific basis for criminal investigations and court trials.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the participants for their committed participation.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0803802), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12372323) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the China Institute of Sport Science.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, 200438, China

    Jin Yang

  2. Research Center for Sports Psychology and Biomechanics, China Institute of Sport Science, Beijing, 100061, China

    Jin Yang, Shangxiao Li, Bin Ni & Weiya Hao

  3. Logistics University of Chinese People’s Armed Police Force, Tianjin, 300309, China

    Shufang Yuan

  4. Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Public Security, Beijing, 100038, China

    Yi Shi, Chaopeng Yang & Mingzhi Wang

  5. Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China

    Wenxia Guo

Authors
  1. Jin Yang
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  4. Yi Shi
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  5. Bin Ni
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  9. Weiya Hao
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Shangxiao Li or Weiya Hao.

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Ethical approval

This study was conducted in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Institutional Review Board.

Human and animal rights and informed consent

The research involved human participants, but does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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All participants signed the consent form prior to any data collection.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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The original online version of this article was revised: In the original publication of the article, the affiliation details of the authors, Shangxiao Li and Weiya Hao were incorrectly given as “China Institute of Sport Science, Beijing 100061, China” and “Research Center for Sports Psychology and Biomechanics, Institute of Sport Science, 10086 Beijing, China” respectively. Instead, it should only be “Research Center for Sports Psychology and Biomechanics, China Institute of Sport Science, Beijing 100061, China”. The corrected affiliations are presented here.

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Yang, J., Li, S., Yuan, S. et al. Spatial relationships among offender, knife, and victim during slashing attacks: implications for crime scene reconstruction. Int J Legal Med (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-024-03219-x

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