Forensic Medical Investigation of Motor Vehicle Incidents


Book Description

Forensic Medical Investigation of Motor Vehicle Incidents provides an in-depth study of the circumstances underlying motor vehicle incidents and allows for a reasoned analysis of a crash victim's injuries. It also gives law enforcement the tools to communicate relevant information to the forensic pathologists and trains pathologists to infer crucia




Medicolegal Death Investigation System


Book Description

The US Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of The National Academies to conduct a workshop that would examine the interface of the medicolegal death investigation system and the criminal justice system. NIJ was particularly interested in a workshop in which speakers would highlight not only the status and needs of the medicolegal death investigation system as currently administered by medical examiners and coroners but also its potential to meet emerging issues facing contemporary society in America. Additionally, the workshop was to highlight priority areas for a potential IOM study on this topic. To achieve those goals, IOM constituted the Committee for the Workshop on the Medicolegal Death Investigation System, which developed a workshop that focused on the role of the medical examiner and coroner death investigation system and its promise for improving both the criminal justice system and the public health and health care systems, and their ability to respond to terrorist threats and events. Six panels were formed to highlight different aspects of the medicolegal death investigation system, including ways to improve it and expand it beyond its traditional response and meet growing demands and challenges. This report summarizes the Workshop presentations and discussions that followed them.




Evidence in Traffic Crash Investigation and Reconstruction


Book Description

EVIDENCE IN TRAFFIC CRASH INVESTIGATION AND RECONSTRUCTION begins with a detailed description of the entire investigation process. The material then graduates into the various phases and levels of investigations, showing the levels of training and education normally associated with the levels of investigations and consequently the duties and responsibilities of the investigator and reconstructionist. Using narrative, schematics, and photographs, the mechanical inspection process is described in detail by identifying various vehicle parts, explanations of their functions, and methods of identifying failures. Human-related factors in traffic crash investigations are discussed at length, including the traffic crash viewed as a systems failure. Looming vulnerability, a recently developed theoretical construct that helps to describe and understand social, cognitive, organizational, and psychological mechanism, is described. Discussed also is the role of vision in driver performance; perception as a four-way process; perceptions and reactions; driver's reaction to stress; and the roles of pathologists, medical examiners, and coroners in traffic crash reconstruction. Who is an expert and expert evidence are described in detail. Errors that can occur in the investigation process and the tolerances that should be considered or allowed are explained. The manual also discusses the importance of calling upon the skills and advice of occupational specialists, such as reconstructionists, lawyers, traffic engineers, pathologists, medical examiners and others, to assist in the investigation and reconstruction of a crash that will ensure that the objectives of a thorough and complete investigation will be satisfied. Considerable effort has been made in the manual to explain how to identify, interpret and analyze all forms of highway marks and damages that can be used in the reconstruction of a vehicle-related crash. As a guide for investigators, prosecutors and defense attorneys, checkboxes are provided with many of the major topics that can be used as prompters in evaluating the thoroughness of an investigation or for those areas that might or might not need additional coverage at trial or litigation proceedings. To meet international requirements, mathematical references are described in both English (U.S.) and SI (metric) measurement systems, accompanied by various appendices covering symbols and mathematical conversions. Finally, there is a comprehensive quick-find index that takes the reader directly to any topic, formulae, or subject matter - or any combination of these.




Essentials of Medicolegal Death Investigation


Book Description

Essentials of Medicolegal Death Investigation uses a unique approach by combining medical issues, injury patterns, and investigative procedures to provide the reader with the basic fundamentals for a death investigation. The text introduces the reader to death investigation, common causes of death, and very specific types of death, including blunt-force injuries, gunshot wounds, and toxicology deaths. Each section includes case studies with written and visual descriptions. Written by a well-known and experienced medicolegal death investigator, the book fills a void in medicolegal literature for both students and professionals alike. - Provides a valuable guide to the interpretation of medical death investigation for practitioners and students - Covers the following circumstances in death investigations: asphyxiation, blunt-force injuries, sharp-force injuries, gunshot wounds, toxicology deaths, and natural causes - Includes case studies with written and visual descriptions and discussion, as well as up-to-date literature review




Spitz and Fisher's Medicolegal Investigation of Death


Book Description

This is not just a new edition but a different book, emphasizing trauma and wound analysis. The addition of a new co-editor, Dr. Francisco J. Diaz, has brought new ideas to this fifth edition. A chapter by Doctor Jan Leetsma, world-renowned neuropathologist, has also been included. Doctor Leetsma’s vast experience in forensic neuropathology will certainly enhance this book. Several chapters have been eliminated that are no longer applicable or which are adequately covered in other publications. Over time, in the past 48 years, since this book was first published, Medicolegal Investigation of Death has been dubbed the “Bible of Forensic Pathology.” The fifth edition includes over 600 case reports and hundreds of color photographs. The cases are from files the authors have personally handled. According to author Spitz, “We have found many times analysis of small wounds will lead to understanding of a giant case—like the case in Hawaii, where a body was found under a full-size van, with a thread mark on the cheek consistent with having been hit with a black pipe used for gas lines that were found in a bucket in the rear of the van. As it turned out, this was a murder, not an accident.” The book is full of such cases. This book will help you understand the details of injuries and how a person was injured and how they died and how these injuries, perhaps at first blush possibly seemingly insignificant, can shed new light on a case. Medicolegal Investigation of Death now embraces not just basic forensic pathology but also includes death during restraint, conscious pain and suffering and new concepts related to the interpretation of injuries by detailed wound analysis. The continued use of simple, non-technical terminology makes this book a truly unique treatise and source of information.




Forensic Medicolegal Injury and Death Investigation


Book Description

Introducing the basic concepts of clinical forensic medicine and death investigation, this book covers the main areas of forensic investigation . It provides an introduction to forensic science and coverage of injury patterns, natural disease, accidental trauma, child injury and fatalities, and domestic violence. Anyone who has direct contact with death, crime, and the medicolegal system, including nurses, physicians, attorneys, death investigators, forensic pathologists, and police detectives, will find this an invaluable reference.




Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine


Book Description

Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine, Volumes 1-4, Second Edition is a pioneering four volume encyclopedia compiled by an international team of forensic specialists who explore the relationship between law, medicine, and science in the study of forensics. This important work includes over three hundred state-of-the-art chapters, with articles covering crime-solving techniques such as autopsies, ballistics, fingerprinting, hair and fiber analysis, and the sophisticated procedures associated with terrorism investigations, forensic chemistry, DNA, and immunoassays. Available online, and in four printed volumes, the encyclopedia is an essential reference for any practitioner in a forensic, medical, healthcare, legal, judicial, or investigative field looking for easily accessible and authoritative overviews on a wide range of topics. Chapters have been arranged in alphabetical order, and are written in a clear-and-concise manner, with definitions provided in the case of obscure terms and information supplemented with pictures, tables, and diagrams. Each topic includes cross-referencing to related articles and case studies where further explanation is required, along with references to external sources for further reading. Brings together all appropriate aspects of forensic medicine and legal medicine Contains color figures, sample forms, and other materials that the reader can adapt for their own practice Also available in an on-line version which provides numerous additional reference and research tools, additional multimedia, and powerful search functions Each topic includes cross-referencing to related articles and case studies where further explanation is required, along with references to external sources for further reading




Simpson's Forensic Medicine


Book Description

This fully updated thirteenth edition of Simpson's Forensic Medicine remains a classic introductory text to the field. Continuing its tradition of preparing the next generation of forensic practitioners, it presents essential concepts in the interface between medicine and the law. Twenty-four chapters cover basic science, toxicology, forensic odont




TRAFFIC CRASH INVESTIGATORS' MANUAL


Book Description

This expanded and updated third edition continues to be an essential reference volume in regards to the principles and techniques of traffic crash investigation. One of the most important phases of any investigation into a traffic crash is that which is conducted at the scene. The traffic crash investigator must be aware of his or her responsibilities and know how to properly fulfill them from the time of being advised of a crash to the time the report is completed based on the on-scene investigation. This manual sets out in detail the requisites for a properly conducted crash investigation by delineating the types of evidence to look for and how to recognize, interpret, gather, and record evidence such as skid marks, yaw marks, roadway and vehicle marks and damages, and environmental, human, and mechanical factors. Only by understanding the principles presented in the text will the objectives of a traffic crash investigation be met: what happened, where the crash occurred, why the crash occurred, and who was involved. The manual covers in both written and illustrative form those situations that confront the investigator conducting a technical crash investigation. An important introduction to scientific speed analysis based on thorough at-scene investigation is provided. Mathematical equations and examples are completed in both the United States or Imperial and metric (S.I.) measurement systems. The book is generously illustrated and substantial appendices provide helpful mathematical tables. This invaluable resource will meet the needs of law enforcement officers, insurance adjusters and investigators, private investigators, lawyers, judges, legal investigators, and instructors and students involved in cadet or advanced traffic crash investigation programs. This new edition will be appreciated by all those charged with the responsibility for investigating traffic crashes, interpreting data, and presenting evidence based on sound analysis.




World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention


Book Description

Every day thousands of people are killed and injured on our roads. Millions of people each year will spend long weeks in the hospital after severe crashes and many will never be able to live, work or play as they used to do. Current efforts to address road safety are minimal in comparison to this growing human suffering. This report presents a comprehensive overview of what is known about the magnitude, risk factors and impact of road traffic injuries, and about ways to prevent and lessen the impact of road crashes. Over 100 experts, from all continents and different sectors -- including transport, engineering, health, police, education and civil society -- have worked to produce the report. Charts and tables.