Medico-legal recommendations to fight the silent war of femicide in Europe

Femicide is a global phenomenon; yet there is no commonly accepted understanding of what counts as femicide. Different disciplines and approaches offer different definitions. Defining the term femicide is not only a purely lexical matter but also involves the aspect of data collection. Owing to the lack of a standardized definition, data collected by countries under this label are not comparable and cannot be used for global or regional estimates to provide an indication of the scale of this phenomenon. One tool to fight this silent war against women is certainly medical-legal diagnosis, with everything that the body of a victim of femicide can reveal. Autopsies are crucial; they can help differentiate between female homicide and femicide and the search for a formal, agreed-upon definition of femicide may be derived precisely from forensic pathology research and necropsy evidence. The autopsies performed and studies written on femicide cases are of extraordinary importance because they make it easy to identify which anatomical districts are most affected, which weapons are most frequently used, and where the bodies of victims of femicide are most often found. To curb this phenomenon, it is essential to act on several levels, starting with the national one. It is necessary to develop a data collection and processing system involving both law enforcement and forensic centers. It is also emphasized the relevance of creating a universal database that can be easily consulted, along the lines of the one that already exists in the United States.