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Purpose: This study aims to analyze the pattern of deaths in detention in Northern Tunisia as well as the causes of death. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study including all the casualties of death in detention examined in the legal medicine Department in the main teaching hospital from 2005 to 2019. The department covers 10 out of the 11 governorates of Northern Tunisia and 13 prisons. Findings: Of a total of 197 casualties, only 2 were females. The mean age was 45.39 ± 14.43 years. A known medical history was reported in 63.5%, mainly cardiovascular disease, mental health disorders and diabetes. Half of the deaths occurred at the hospital. A total of 53 victims spent less than one year in custody before their death. Most deaths occurred due to disease-related causes (78.7%; n = 155); among these, 69 victims died from cardiovascular disease. Suicide accounted for 3.6% of the casualties and homicides for four cases. Research limitations/implications: Several missing data regarding the details of the detention circumstances as well as the absence in some cases of the toxicological and histopathology analysis results, which could bias the study findings. Practical implications: Death in detention in Northern Tunisia involved mainly males between their 30s and their 50s who died mainly from cardiovascular or pulmonary disease. These results underscore the importance of empowering the penitentiary health system. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is one of largest studies with regard to the number of decedents and the number of prisons from the Arab countries allowing to draw a pattern of casualties of death in prison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tunisian Penal Code defines infanticide as the murder committed by the mother on her child at birth or immediately after. There is a dearth of studies and official statistics on infanticide in the Arab region and North Africa. to analyze the infanticide trends in northern Tunisia between 1977 and 2016. we included all cases of infanticides autopsied at the Legal Medicine Department of Charles Nicolle Hospital in Tunis, over a period of 40 years (1977–2016). A descriptive retrospective study. We collected a total of 513 cases of infanticide over the study period. The general prevalence of infanticide was 0.42 per 100,000 live births per year. Infanticide often occurred during the week, in winter (31.5%) and in spring (30.9%). The newborn was often found on public roads (40.9%) and in urban areas (81.4%). The newborn was often full-term (73.6%), mature, without any congenital malformation, found completely naked (75.2%) and with an empty stomach (93.7%). The umbilical cord was often cut (71.5%), not ligated (82%) with an irregular edge (64%). There was often no putrefaction (54.4%). The hydrostatic test (81.8%) and histological examination (81.1%) showed that infants had breathed. Neglect was the most common cause of death (49.9%). Northern Tunisia has a low prevalence of infanticide compared to most of the previous European and American studies. A better understanding of infanticide would allow us to adapt measures of prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]