Details
Crime and the investigation of suspicious deaths is a popular topic with crime novels, films, and television drama regularly focusing on the ‘who done it’ aspect of death.
In contrast, real world death investigation takes place continuously at many levels in the community and for a range of purposes. Whilst in the past criminal issues were uppermost in the minds of the investigating coroner, today the focus of the coroner’s jurisdiction has changed. Death and injury prevention have become increasingly important, with many coroners making recommendations that have a direct implication for public health and safety. These changes in focus have lead to a restructuring of the process of death investigation.
The Coroner now has to manage a team of specialist scientific and medical investigators from a wide variety of disciplines. In addition, the human side of coronial investigation has developed enormously with coroners becoming involved in providing bereavement support for families and friends of the deceased. These changes have brought new challenges for coroner investigators and the community.
Death Investigation and the Coroner's Inquest bridges the divide between traditional legal texts dealing with the office and jurisdiction of the coroner and those forensic medical and scientific texts dealing with the technical aspects of death investigation. It provides a comprehensive overview of the legal, technical, scientific, and medical features surrounding the investigations carried out by coroners.
- Australian Law
- Provides a comprehensive overview of the legal, technical, scientific and medical features surrounding the investigations carried out by coroners
- Outlines the history of the coronial system of death investigation and illustrates this history with a number of case studies
- Special death scenes such as deaths in custody, transport related deaths, and mass disasters, including disaster victim identification, are covered
- Both the medical investigation and the legal investigation of a death are examined in detail
- Appendices at the end of the book include useful resource materials
1: Death Investigation from an Historical Perspective
2: Death Investigation from an International Perspective
3: Death Investigation: Operational Roles
4: Deaths and Other Reported Incidents
5: Death Investigation Powers of the Coroner
6: Death Scene Investigation
7: Specialist Death Scenes and Investigations
8: International Disaster Management: Mass Fatalities
9: The Role of the Forensic Pathologist
10: The Autopsy: Medical Issues
11: Autopsies: Legal and Cultural Issues
12: Identification of Human Remains
13: Specialist Medical and Scientific Investigations
14: The Interpretation of Injuries and Medical Findings
15: The Medical Report and the Giving of Evidence
16: Advocacy
17: Inquest Hearings
18: Inquest Findings, Recommendations and Reports
19: Appeals, reviews and Reopening of Inquests
20: Death Investigation and Coroners: The Future
Appendices
Coronial Death Investigation: Operational Activities
Examples of coroners' findings and recommendations
A coroner's information booklet
The Australian National Coroners Information System
Medical report and pro forma checklists
Body Charts
Police death notification from the coroner
Quebec Code of Ethics for Coroners
Practice direction: Guidelines for expert witnesses in proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia
Ian Freckelton, Barrister, Adjunct Professor of Law, La Trobe University, Macquarie University and Monash University
