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Chapter 8 Vocab
Death Investigations
Term | Definition |
---|---|
adipocere | if the body is in a hot, moist location, a soapy apperance develops within three months |
algor mortis | refers to postmortem cooling process of the body and can be extremely helpful in homicide investigations |
asphyxiation | when the body tissues and the brain recieve insufficent oxygen to support the red blood cells |
autoerotic asphyxiation | victim has sought to intensify sexual gratification by placing a rope or other ligature around the neck and causing just enough constriction to create hypoxia |
cadaveric spasm | a condition that occurs in specific muscle groups |
criminal homicide | subdivided into murder and manslaughter |
criminal negligence | creating a situtation that results in an unreasonable risk of death or great bodily harm |
defense wounds | cuts on hands, arms, and legs resulted from warding of attacker |
equivocal death | either a homicide or a suicide depending upon the circumstances, "staged death" |
excusable homicide | unintentional, truly accidental killing of another person |
expressive violence | stemming from hurt feelings, anger, or rage |
first-degree murder | advanced planning and the intent to cause death |
heat of passion | extremely volatile arguements between two people |
hesitation wounds | less severe cutting marks that are caused by trying to build courage to make fatal wound |
homicide | the killing of one person by another |
instrumental violence | goal-directed predatory behavior used to excert control |
involuntary manslaughter | accidental homicide that results from extreme negligence |
justifiable homicide | killing another person under authorization of the law |
lethal predator | possessing lethal violence, multiple acts of sexual predation, mental abnormality, and legal sanity |
livor mortis | settling of the blood in the lower portion of the body |
lust murder | is a sex-related homicide invovling a sadistic, deviant assualt |
malicious intent | element of first- and second-degree murder, implies ill will, cruetly, or wickedness |
manslaughter | unlawful killing of another person with no prior malice |
mass murder | the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time |
mummification | complete dehydration of all body tissues |
murder | the most severe statutory crime |
noncriminal homicide | subdivided into excusable and justifiable homicide |
postmortem lividity | dark blue or purple discoloration of the body |
predation | an intentional act of selecting, pursuing, and overpowering a person and then inflicting harm to them |
premeditation | advanced planning, consideration |
rigor mortis | latin term that literally translates to "stiffness of death |
second-degree murder | intent to cause death but no premeditation |
serial murder | is the killing of three or more seperate vitims, with a "cooling off" periods between the killings |
suicide | the intentional taking of one's life |
suicide by police | situtation in which a person decides he or she wants to die but does not want to pull the trigger so they force police to |
third-degree murder | involves neither premeditation nor intent |
toxicology | the study of poisons |
voluntary manslaughter | intentional causing of the death of another person in the heat of passion |