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[Morphologic studies in criminal justice--requirements and reality]
1Institut für Rechtsmedizin, Universität Hamburg, Bundesrepublik Deutschland.
Zeitschrift Fur Rechtsmedizin. Journal of Legal Medicine
|January 1, 1988
Summary
Forensic medicine faces challenges in determining cause of death due to legal changes and reduced autopsies. This impacts criminal justice by potentially obscuring the truth and hindering thorough investigations.
Area of Science:
- Forensic Medicine
- Legal Medicine
- Pathology
Context:
- Legal reforms and bureaucratic changes negatively impact forensic medicine.
- There's a declining emphasis on comprehensive injury pattern analysis in legal proceedings.
- Forensic experts' roles are increasingly limited to postmortem findings and cause of death, overlooking somatic medical examinations.
Purpose:
- To critically analyze the current state of forensic medicine in legal investigations.
- To assess the adequacy of forensic science in determining the cause of death.
- To highlight the negative implications of reduced autopsies and examinations on establishing truth in legal cases.
Summary:
- Forensic science may struggle to meet scientific demands for complete cause-of-death explanations.
- Reduced autopsies, histological, and toxicological examinations ordered by prosecutors have serious implications for truth-finding.
- External circumstances of death can be misleading, leading to unrevealed crimes when autopsies are not performed.
Impact:
- The quality and thoroughness of initial autopsies are often insufficient, as revealed by second autopsies.
- There is a concerning trend of investigations and expert opinions being solely dependent on official orders.
- This situation risks compromising justice by potentially overlooking crucial evidence and manipulating findings.