Suicide by Gunshot Wounds to the Head

Murder or Suicide by the Forensics Each year in America millions of people die by their own hands Millions more die at the hands of others . Investigators do not want to make the mistake of convicting someone for murder if the victim actually committed suicide . At the same time they do not want to assume a death was the result of suicide when it was in fact a homicide . Investigators have to study bodies very carefully and research the victim 's behaviors leading up to the death in to make the proper determination . It

br is not always a guarantee that a mistake will not be made , but most crime investigators learn the fine differences between self inflicted deaths and those caused by others . This involves a combination of physical and social sciences

One very common method of death that can be either suicide or homicide is gunshot wounds especially gunshot wounds to the head or chest . The most common types of gunshot suicides are committed using handguns because it is easier for a person to hold a handgun to their head than a shotgun or rifle and fire it to cause a fatal wound . This tends to be a popular method of suicide because it is quick . It takes only fractions of a second to inflict the wound and death occurs within minutes . It is effective , because shots to the head are usually fatal the first time and have a low rate of failed attempts . In most cases this method of suicide is relatively painless , because death or at least unconsciousness occurs almost instantly . The drawback with this method is that the

person does not have time to change their mind and call an ambulance before death occurs . Once the trigger is pulled death is usually imminent

Statistically , more men use this method to commit suicide than women partly because more men have a gun readily available and find it more convenient . More women choose overdose of medication , because it is easier , less messy and does not horribly disfigure the body or face When these statistics are compared to murder by hand guns , women rarely commit murder , but when they do it is most often with a handgun . The reason for this is that guns do not require much physical strength or close contact to kill the victim . These and other factors are important to know when attempting to distinguish between murder and suicide because many people who commit murders attempt to cover the murder by attempting to make it look like a suicide . For this reason , the more factual distinguishing information available , the easier it is to determine who pulled the trigger of the gun . By finding out as much information as possible about the victim of the crime and the evidence surrounding the crime the crime investigators will have increased advantage in being able to make this determination . Part of this would go back to the history to determine who would have the most likely motive for...