Medico legal and epidemiological aspects of femicide in a judicial district of north eastern Italy

•Medico legal and epidemiological aspects of femicide in north eastern Italy.•Analysis: temporal trend, data of victims and perpetrators, circumstances, risk factors.•Treatment: supervision by health/social authorities, treatment of psychological/mental diseases.•Prevention: judiciary monitoring of domestic violences, alcohol/drug abuse dissuasion.

Femicide is the intentional killing of a woman because she is female, and often occurs when there are pre-existing relations, intimate or otherwise, between the victim and the murderer.A retrospective epidemiological study was made of 34 female homicides recorded in a university departmental register of post-mortems, pertaining to a judicial district of about 700,000 inhabitants in north eastern Italy, during a 21-year period from January 1st 1993 to December 31st 2013.The temporal trend, the socio-demographic characteristics of victims and perpetrators, the circumstances surrounding the crime and the risk factors for femicide were studied with the aim of identifying and developing preventive strategies.