SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: Test for Classifying Force Used in Bottle Stabbings Developed

[Another form of weaponry, in an asymmetric way.  Be aware of those yielding beer and wine bottles!  Article is courtesy of HSNW and single slide is courtesy of University of Leicester.]

Published 22 July 2011 (Britain)

Stabbing is the most common method of committing murder in the United Kingdom; in approximately 10 percent of all assaults resulting in treatment in the U.K. emergency units, glasses and bottles are used as weapons; official UK estimates suggest that a form of glass is used as a weapon in between 3,400 and 5,400 offenses per year; engineers at the University of Leicester have for the first time created a way of measuring how much force is used during a stabbing using a broken bottle

'Glassings' and Stabbings - Bottles as Weapons: The Engineering Story

Engineers at the University of Leicester have for the first time created a way of measuring how much force is used during a stabbing using a broken bottle. The advance is expected to have significant implications for legal forensics.

A team from the University has conducted a systematic study of the force applied during a stabbing and come up with the first set of penetration force data for broken glass bottles. This work has been published in the International Journal of Legal Medicine.

A university of Leicester release reports that stabbing is the most common method of committing murder in the United Kingdom. Injuries and assaults related to alcohol consumption are also a growing concern in many countries. In such cases the impulsive use of weapons such as a glass bottle is not uncommon.

In approximately 10 percent of all assaults resulting in treatment in the U.K. emergency units, glasses and bottles are used as weapons.