The differences between proximate countries are intriguing: rates are 40 percent higher for Australians than for New Zealanders, 50 percent higher for Italians than for Swiss, three times greater in Norway than in Finland, and four times greater in the U.S. than in Canada. But with the merging of economies and the US-driven mass culture spread-out, differences tend to disappear.

The superiority of the US in terms of victims can be explained by several factors such as the American culture of violence, a legacy of relatively advanced civilizations encountering and conquering the frontier. Gun control is still very loosy and most popular series and blockbusters produced by Hollywood are filled with violence, crimes and deaths. The relatively high degree of cultural and racial heterogeneity added  to economic inequalities between and within the races lead to extent of social disorganization and increase in crimes.

Type of homicides

Poisoning

Blugeoning with a blunt instrument.
Only likely to be fatal if is on the head. Death is usually from skull fracture pushing fragments of bone into the brain, or internal bleeding between the skull and the dura - the membrane covering the brain.

Burning

usually kills by asphyxia from smoke inhalation. Bodies exposed to intense heat are stiffened, posed like a boxer ready to fight. As burning is sometimes used to cover up other crimes the presence of burns on the body needn't imply that this was the cause of death.

Drowning

kills by asphyxia, as the lungs fill with liquid. Post-mortem signs:

Embolism

clogging of the blood vessels with air, or sometimes fat. This blocks blood supply to the heart or brain. A fat embolism is rare but can happen when burning or other injury releases fat particles into the blood.

Explosives

kills in a variety of ways: flash burns, disintergration of body, effects of air pressure. Also by the results of the explosion - flying glass, collapsing buildings etc

Gunshot  and knife wounds

Mortal when a major organ is touched or blood is not stopped after an arteri is cut.

Suicide and homicide can normally be distinguished by the direction of the thrust. Also, suicides normally take the clothing off the part of the body there are going to stab.

Strangulation

by hand, a ligature, or hanging. Death is by asphyxia. Homicidal strangulation will almost always fracture the hyiod bone. Manual strangulation tends to leave finger-shaped bruises and sometimes nail marks in the skin.

Suffocation

• Suffocation: If there isn't enough oxygen in the air, such as when trapped in a small space
• Smothering: Caused by an object over the mouth and nose, such as a pillow or the murderer's hand.
• Choking: Caused by an obstruction in the airway - food, inhaled vomit etc Seldom used in homide, except when people choke on their gags.

Crush asphyxia: Caused by pressure on the chest, such as a collapsed building, or in a crowd. Post-mortem appearances include a lot of haemorrhaging between the chest and head, cyanosis, bulging eyes etc

Visit the homicide gallery