GUNSHOT WOUNDS TO THE SKULL - COMPARISON OF ENTRIES AND EXITS

Specific features usually allow recognition of entrance and exit wound s in bones. Exits are often more irregular, and usually larger than en trances. The aim of this paper is to compare the size of 17 entrance a nd exit gunshot wounds from a series of 13 forensic cases. The results of this work confirm the usually accepted fact that exit wounds in bo nes tend to be larger than the entrances resulting from the same shot. In all but one case the exits were larger than the entrances in this study. Though the bullet loses velocity after penetrating, the ballist ic behavior (deformation and instability of the projectile) explains t his tendency. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserv ed.