by Shanaaz Matthews et al.
Levels of alcohol use are high in South Arica and not much is known about women’s use of alcohol when murdered. The aim of this article is to describe the patterns of blood concentration (BAC) at the time of death for female homicide victims and to explore the factors associated with having an elevated BAC. A subsample of a national, representative, retrospective mortuary-based study of female homicides ages 14 years and older was analyzed. Data were gathered from medical legal laboratory records, autopsy reports, and police interviews from 153 cases at sampled mortuaries in the Western Cape Province of South Africa in 1999. The Study was conducted in the Western Cape, a region known to have one of the highest levels of alcohol consumption in South Africa.
