Twenty years of femicide in Milan: a retrospective medicolegal analysis and reflection on its definition

Femicide constitutes a leading cause of premature deaths for women, yet it has been the subject of limited research until recently. Enhanced data collection and analysis on killings of women and girls are necessary to understand and address this unrelenting phenomenon. By means of this talk, we would like to (1) discuss the analysis of femicide, and in particular its definition and lack of standardization, leading to difficulties for data comparison, and (2) share our experience in Milan. Indeed, during this talk, a retrospective analysis of all cases of female homicides encountered at the Institute of Legal Medicine of Milan (Italy) over the last 20 years will be presented (1999-2019; data from 2020/2021 will be shown separately given the bias that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic may represent). The study this work stems from is part of a growing effort to enhance data collection and analysis on femicide. Studying and monitoring the rates of femicide will permit to better understand, reduce, and finally end femicide globally.