Edged Weapon Research
As many of you are aware, I look too empirical and scientific/medical research to support what I teach in combatives. Recently I became aware of some research conducted by Charlie Mesloh (PhD) and Frank Thompson (MBA) who are respected researchers in the law enforcement/officer safety field. Specific to Edged Weapon research they found the following:
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Most research in the area of edged weapon attacks have been conducted in the United Kingdom and one study was found in Kuala Lumpur
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Of the studies done in the United Kingdom, four are from England and one was from Scotland
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According to Rouse(1994) and Hunt and Cowling (1991) stabbing is the most common method of homicide in the United Kingdom
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In the above noted studies one of the more interesting findings was that the average number of stabs/slashes was one and that in many cases that one strike was enough to cause death
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After reviewing 20 years of law enforcment injury reports in the USA, on average 1358 officers are attacked by edged weapons each year or three to four attacks each day (Thompson and Mesloh, 2006)
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Webb, Wyatt, Henry, and Busuttil (1999) studied 120 victims admitted to hospital in Edinburgh hospital for edged weapon attacks
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20/120 died of their injuries
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of the 20 that died, 16 experienced the most severe trauma to their chest and only 5 made it to hospital for treatment
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Of 148 homicides from stabbing records by the Royal London Hospital, 67 had a single fatal significant stab wound. Of these 67 wounds, 22 hit the heart and 17 hit the heart and lung. Multiple stab wounds accounted for the remaining 81 homicides and of these, fatalities occurred from shest wounds in 61 cases.
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In a study conducted by Hunt and Cowling (1991), 36% of males inflicted one wound compared to 57% of females inflicting a single wound; of these single fatal wounds 27 out of 39 hit the chest of the victim.
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In a study conducted by Murray and Green (1987), in 74 fatal stabbings, 27 single wounds were fatal, with 18 of these occurring on the chest
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A study conducted by Knight (1975) they found that the length of the blade was not as important as sharpness of the first 1cm of the tip; if tip is sharp the rest of the blade will follow.
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The most ideal killing weapon is a short, thin bladed knife, with a stiff blade, about 7cm long (Green, 1978) as all vital arteries are within 2,5 inches (6.35cm) of the surface, depending upon body fat
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A balde with a length of less than three inches is capeable of producing a fatal stab injury while an adequately sharp instrument of any length is capable of producing a fatal slash to a sensitive area like the neck (Thompson and Mesloh, 2006)
Here are the References, some you can find on the net for free, others you need to pay for. Good luck in your search, Bleetman’s research is very interesting !!!!!!
Bleetman, A Hughes, H., Gupta, V. (2003). Assailant techniques in Knife slash attacks, Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine, 10, 1-3
Bleetamn, a., Watson, C.H., Horsfall, I., & Champion, S.M., (2003). Wounding patterns and human performance in knife attacks: optimizing the protection provided by knife resistant body armour. Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine, 10, 243-248
Chadwick, E.K., Nicole, A.C., Lane, J.V., &Gray, T.G (1999) Biomechanics of knife stab attacks. Foensic Science International, 105, 35-44
Green, M.A. (1978) Stab Wound Dynamics- A recording technique for use in medico-legal investigations, Journal Forensic Science Society, 18(3-4)
Horsfal, I., Prosser, P.D., Watson, C.H., & Champion, S.M., (1999) An assessment of human performance in stabbing. Forensic Science International, 102, 78-89
Hunt, A.C., & Cowling, R.J. (1991) Murder by stabbing. Forensic Science International, 52, 107-112
Jones, S., Nokes, L., & Leadbeatter, S. (1994) The mechanics of stab wounding. Forensic Science International, 67, 59-63
Miller, S.A., & Jones, M.D. (1996) Kinematics of four methods of stabbing: a preliminary study. Forensic Science International, 82, 183-190
January 18, 2009 at 5:54 pm | Uncategorized | No comment