Self-Inflicted Injury

: Saukko P, Pollak S

: Siegel JA, Saukko PJ, Houck MM

Publisher: Academic Press

: Waltham

: 2013

: Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences

: 110

: 115

: 978-0-12-382165-2

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-382165-2.00170-7

When practicing clinical forensic medicine, one has to bear in mind that injuries may have been self-inflicted for different purposes: with the objective of simulating a criminal offense (e.g., false rape allegation, feigned robbery), for the purpose of insurance fraud, as a suicidal gesture, in the context of mental diseases and personality disorders, or as an autoaggressive behavior in police custody, in penal institutions, and among soldiers. In the majority of cases, there are typical features pointing to possible self-infliction. Especially in simulated criminal offenses, the injury pattern is often highly significant. The main categories of self-induced bodily harm are presented and illustrated by examples from medicolegal casework.