chandeleir asked this question on 4/17/2000:

I was wondering if you could tell me the diffrent types of wounds when dealing with an injury or death investigation and the how and why pertaining to each type of wound and its causes?

d_ottr gave this response on 4/17/2000:

This is an incredibly broad question. There are so many types of wounds in general, but let's take a shot:

First, there are abrasions. Abrasions are things like scraped knees, "strawberries" that baseball and softball players get when they slide, etc. These are probably the lesser found in assaults and deaths, however they would have some significance if found. An abrasion would indicate the victim was dragged, or possibly fell during an escape attempt.

Next is a puncture wound. Punctures most often occur from sharp objects entering the body at near perpendicular angles. These would include knife wounds, or some more "exotic" weapons, such as screwdrivers, sticks, etc. punctures usually bleed only minimally outwardly, but they may cause severe internal hemorrhage Puncture wounds are significant because they usually are caused by a secondary source, ie someone other than the victim. I DID have an EXTREMELY unusual case last week, where a schizophrenic elderly male stabbed himself twice in the chest with two separate steak knives- and left them in! We found him with these knives sticking out of his chest! Makes you think initially, but every angle was considered, including the son-in-law, but nothing indicated otherwise. THAT'S one for the books! In addition to the knife wounds, we foundsmaller punctures near the mortal wound areas. These are called tentative wounds. These are caused by the victim's intiqal fear of doing the act he or she is about to commit. SOmetimes that is all you find, and they abort the plan. In this case, however, he did finish the deed. Another type of wound we look for in a case like this is defense wounds. See lacerations, next....

Lacerations are caused by sharp objects which slash the skin, or make deeper, longer cuts into the flesh and musculature. Usually caused by objects like knives, glass, etc., these wounds bleed profusely in many instances. The edges of the wound are clean due to the nature of the injurious object. Lacertations are very common wounds in assaults. In many cases there are what is referred to as "defense wounds" present. These are just what they sound like: the victim is defending themselves against the attack, and incur secondary, usually non-life threatening wounds to the hands, forearms, etc. from trying to block the attacker.

The last category of wound is the avulsion. This is a tearing of the flesh, with usually severe associated bleeding and tissue damage. The edges of the skin are jagged, indicating the flesh was not cut, but rather pulled or acted upon by a blunt object. These are some of the most brutal wounds; these would include things like hammer injuries, baseball bats, pipes, etc.

There are obviously other types of injuries like fractures, but all you need to do in those cases is apply a simple method of examining the mechanics of injury to determine if these injuries were caused accidentally or intentionally.

The last thing I'll mention is post-mortem and pre-mortem wounds. Pre-mortem wounds are caused before the death of the victim. There would be bleeding present, and the wound cavities would have blood within them. Post-mortem wounds would ocur after the death of the victim. Thses would be present in a lot of instances of dismemberments. The skin appears almost styrofoamish, and there is not so much bleeding. If the heart is no longer pumping, only gravity would allow the blood to escape, and typically the blood vessels contract after they are severed.

This is a quick and brief overview of these types of injuries. You should understand that forensic analysis of wounds is a very complex task and involves hours and hours of clinical and classroom studies that this answer could barely scrape the surface. If you need something more specific please recontact me. Thanks for the question, and don't forget to rate this answer.

The average rating for this answer is 5.

chandeleir rated this answer a 5.

Thank You. You let me know what I needed to know. This was my first time using askme.com. I'm very impressed.