Injuries due to deliberate violence in Chile

An analysis was made over a period of 6 months of the incidents involving deliberate violence as registered in ‘Vicaria’, the clinic for out-patients within the Cathedral of Santiago de Chile. A total of 236 victims of deliberate violence were observed. Men aged 15–24 years were found to be victims of deliberate violence most frequently. ‘Under education’ was the most frequently registered occupation for both sexes, and a large group of male victims were ‘Unemployed’. 82% of the victims were men and 14% women, 1.5% were boys and 1.5% girls ⩽ 14 years of age. None of the victims were alcohol intoxicated when arriving in the clinic. The incidents took place in streets for 81% of the male victims and 79% of the female victims, and in the majority of the cases the aggressor(s) was one (or several) police officer(s). Six percent of the male victims had been injured in a police station/quarter or military lorry. Only 8% of the female victims had been injured at home. There was no reporting of the aggressor being a relative or acquaintance. The most frequent type of violence was blunt violence from baton(s) (44%), while blunt violence without the use of instruments was reported less frequently (33%). The use of firearms was registered in 18% of the cases, and of sharp instruments, combustion, electro-shock and chain in 1.4%, 1.4%, 1.1% and 0.4% of the cases, respectively. A total of 517 primary and secondary diagnoses were applied to the patients. Most of the victims (99%) had moderate or less serious lesions according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) (score ⩽ 2). Twenty-four percent of the victims had more than 4 lesions, and 7% more than 10 lesions. The head/neck region and the trunk were affected with equal frequency, the frequency of injuries of the head/neck region being comparable with that observed among torture victims and in contrast to the pronounced predominance of injuries of the head/neck region observed in a Danish emergency ward study of deliberate violence.