This is the first empirical law book to investigate coroners’ recommendations, and the extent of their impact and implementation. Based on an extensive study, the book analyses over 2000 New Zealand Coroners’ recommendations and includes more than 100 interviews and over 40 surveys, as well as Coroner’s Court findings and litigation from Canada, England, Ireland, Australia and Scotland. This timely book is an overdue investigation of the highly debated questions: do coroners’ recommendations save lives and how often are they implemented?
This is the first empirical law book to investigate coroners' recommendations, and the extent of their impact and implementation. Based on an extensive study, the book analyses over 2000 New Zealand Coroners' recommendations and includes more than 100 interviews and over 40 respondents to a survey, as well as Coroner's Court findings and litigation from Canada, England, Ireland, Australia and Scotland. This timely book is an overdue investigation of the highly debated questions: do coroners' recommendations save lives and how often are they implemented?
The Routledge Handbook of Law and Death provides a comprehensive survey of contemporary scholarship on the intersections of law and death in the 21st century. It showcases how socio-legal scholars have contributed to the critical turn in death studies and how the sociology of death has impacted upon the discipline of law. In bringing together prominent academics and emerging experts from a diverse range of disciplines, the Handbook shows how, far from shunning questions of mortality, legal institutions incessantly talk about death. Touching upon the epistemologies and materialities of death, and problems of contested deaths and posthumous harms, the Handbook questions what is distinctive about the disciplinary alignment of law and death, how law regulates and manages death in the everyday, and how thinking with law can enrich our understandings of the presence of death in our lives. In a time when the world is facing global inequalities in living and dying, and legal institutions are increasingly interrogating their relationships to death, this Handbook makes for essential reading for scholars, students, and practitioners in law, humanities, and the social sciences.
The first comprehensive collection of its kind, this handbook addresses the problem of knowledge production in criminology, redressing the global imbalance with an original focus on the Global South. Issues of vital criminological research and policy significance abound in the Global South, with important implications for South/North relations as well as global security and justice. In a world of high speed communication technologies and fluid national borders, empire building has shifted from colonising territories to colonising knowledge. The authors of this volume question whose voices, experiences, and theories are reflected in the discipline, and argue that diversity of discourse is more important now than ever before. Approaching the subject from a range of historical, theoretical, and social perspectives, this collection promotes the Global South not only as a space for the production of knowledge, but crucially, as a source of innovative research and theory on crime and justice. Wide-ranging in scope and authoritative in theory, this study will appeal to scholars, activists, policy-makers, and students from a wide range of social science disciplines from both the Global North and South, including criminal justice, human rights, and penology.
When a death is investigated by a coroner, what is the place of the family in that process? This accessibly written book draws together empirical, theoretical and historical perspectives to develop a rich, nuanced analysis of the contemporary inquest system in England and Wales. It investigates theories of kinship drawn from socio-legal research and analyses law, accountability and the legal process. Excerpts of conversations with coroners and officers offer real insights into how the role of family can be understood and who family is perceived to be, and how their participation fundamentally shapes the investigation into a death.
The book explains the role and objectives of the inquest. It highlights the forms of investigations in several types of fatal accident and gives guidance about the central legal issues and matters of case preparation and presentation. Starting with chapters on the law and the lawyer's preparation, it then discusses what the police do and why, the place of the autopsy, coroner's enquiries and recommendations, and the reasons for and extent of media interest. It covers the forms of investigations in road accidents, natural disasters, drug overdoses, medical or surgical mishaps, pathology and sudden unexpected infant death. It emphasises that inquests are collaborative ventures, often multi-disciplinary events and multi-party, too. Derrick W Hand, New South Wales State Coroner, recommends the book:"The Inquest Handbook is of great importance because it contains up-to-date, comprehensive information by persons considered expert in their field. Not only will it help those working in the coronial jurisdiction, it will also help others to understand the coronial process."
America’s most controversial medical examiner explores the unanswered questions surrounding the deaths of Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, Sharon Tate, Janis Joplin, William Holden, Natalie Wood, John Belushi, and many of his other important cases Now, for the first time, Dr. Noguchi recounts his colorful and stormy career, explains his innovative techniques, and reveals the full story behind his most fascinating investigations. In Coroner, Dr. Noguchi sheds new light on his most controversial cases—controversies that persist even today: —How did Natalie Wood spend the last terrifying moments of her life? —Did Marilyn Monroe commit suicide or were the drugs that killed her injected into her body by someone else? —Did Sirhan Sirhan or another gunman fire the bullet that killed Robert Kennedy? —How could the knives used in the murder of Sharon Tate be identified and traced to the Manson gang if they were never found? —What were the real circumstances behind the drug-related death of Janis Joplin? —Were Patty Hearst’s kidnappers victims of police brutality or of their own revolutionary zeal? —How and why did William Holden die? —Was John Belushi murdered? These are just some of the questions answered in this powerful, gutsy book written by the real-life “Quincy,” with co-author Joseph DiMona.
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.
In the wake of a large-scale disaster, from the initial devastation through the long tail of recovery, protecting the health and well-being of the affected individuals and communities is paramount. Accurate and timely information about mortality and significant morbidity related to the disaster are the cornerstone of the efforts of the disaster management enterprise to save lives and prevent further health impacts. Conversely, failure to accurately capture mortality and significant morbidity data undercuts the nation's capacity to protect its population. Information about disaster-related mortality and significant morbidity adds value at all phases of the disaster management cycle. As a disaster unfolds, the data are crucial in guiding response and recovery priorities, ensuring a common operating picture and real-time situational awareness across stakeholders, and protecting vulnerable populations and settings at heightened risk. A Framework for Assessing Mortality and Morbidity After Large-Scale Disasters reviews and describes the current state of the field of disaster-related mortality and significant morbidity assessment. This report examines practices and methods for data collection, recording, sharing, and use across state, local, tribal, and territorial stakeholders; evaluates best practices; and identifies areas for future resource investment.
Every year, about 30,000 people die by suicide in the U.S., and some 650,000 receive emergency treatment after a suicide attempt. Often, those most at risk are the least able to access professional help. Reducing Suicide provides a blueprint for addressing this tragic and costly problem: how we can build an appropriate infrastructure, conduct needed research, and improve our ability to recognize suicide risk and effectively intervene. Rich in data, the book also strikes an intensely personal chord, featuring compelling quotes about people's experience with suicide. The book explores the factors that raise a person's risk of suicide: psychological and biological factors including substance abuse, the link between childhood trauma and later suicide, and the impact of family life, economic status, religion, and other social and cultural conditions. The authors review the effectiveness of existing interventions, including mental health practitioners' ability to assess suicide risk among patients. They present lessons learned from the Air Force suicide prevention program and other prevention initiatives. And they identify barriers to effective research and treatment. This new volume will be of special interest to policy makers, administrators, researchers, practitioners, and journalists working in the field of mental health.
