Investigating Death

Catalog description

Offers a comprehensive introduction to medicolegal death investigation, its theory and practice. Examines the history of death investigation internationally and focuses on the ways in which practitioners in this field are trained, the spheres in which they work and the ways in which they do their job in the United States. Particularly focuses on the complex roles of those individuals operating within the U.S. medicolegal and judicial systems. Medicolegal death investigation lies at the intersection of science and the community. Its practitioners offer a critical service to the public and operate under intense scrutiny and expectations, yet with limited resources. Death investigators at every level of occupation are required to navigate the delicate spaces between the deceased and those left behind with questions. Examines the practice of death investigation through the complex lens of diverse sociocultural notions of death, taking into consideration the mental burden often placed on the investigator in this context. Topics include forensic science, pathology, the medicolegal and judicial systems, ethics, medicolegal death investigation, mass disaster and human rights responses, and second responder mental health.