THE AIM OF THE STUDY

Was to research the muscles response in children during three years of their life to mechanical stimulation with evaluation of the maximum time of its occurrence from 2 to 15 hours of the postmortem period. Assessment of the muscles response to mechanical stress is one of the methods for determining the time of death coming. For the deceased of mature age, there is very little scientific data on this topic and for children and adolescents there is none at all. The results of a study of 244 children corpses aged 1 to 3 years with a precisely established time of death within 2 to 15 hours of the postmortem period are presented. Two 2 age groups have been identified: 1^st — from 1 to 2 years, 2^nd — from 2 to 3 years. It was determined that the response of muscles to mechanical stress in children depends on age and does not depend on gender. The time of occurrence of the muscle contraction swelling for each age group was established. The results of the study are the first reliable evidence of the postmortem time limit of muscle contraction swelling onset in children of different age groups.