Homicidal incised wounds of the neck inflicted from the front

Incised wounds of the neck can be accidental, homicidal or suicidal. Accidental wounds are extremely rare, usually seen only when an individual goes through a sheet of glass or is struck in the neck by a flying fragment of glass or some other sharp-edged projectile. Homicidal incised wounds of the neck present two different pictures, depending on whether they are produced from the back or the front.

Most commonly, a person’s throat is cut from behind. The head is pulled back, exposing the neck, and the knife is then drawn across it. Often, the victim is face down on the floor or ground at the time the wound is inflicted. The perpetrator usually starts the incision high up on the side of the neck opposite to the hand they are using. The knife is drawn across the neck, from left to right by a right-handed assailant and from right to left by a left handed individual. The wound inflicted is first shallow, then deeper and then shallow again, terminating on the opposite side of the neck. The wound generally starts below the ear; runs downward and medially at an angle, then straight across the midline of the neck, and then upward, ending on the opposite side of the neck, lower than its point of initiation.