Death investigation, the coroner and therapeutic jurisprudence

Death investigation by coroners incorporates elements of the adversarial and the inquisitorial. Coroners function differently from most other judicial officers in the way in which their staff interact with family members of the deceased and in the way in which they increasingly function as public health officials with a prophylactic orientation. Coroners, both before and at inquest, have the potential to have broad-ranging and constructive impacts but also deleterious and counter-therapeutic effects. This article analyses how coronial practice and coronial law and procedural reform have the potential to draw upon the principles of therapeutic jurisprudence,