Death Investigations - Assignment Example

Death is a painful process that disconnects the soul from the body and thus the being of a person is no more. When a person dies psychologically, his/her conscience is no longer at work despite the physical presence of his/her body (Prahlow, 2010). Death takes place when the body systems of a person no longer functions and thus leaving the body in a lifeless state. There are a number of manner in which death occurs depending on the causes and mechanisms that occasioned that particular death (Adcock & Chancellor, 2013). Causes of death are the immediate circumstances or objects that caused one to dies, for instance, if a person was shot and later died the gunshot is the cause of death (Castleman, 2000). Mechanisms of death on the other hand are the preceding situations after the cause of death for instance is a person was shot on the head and the gunshot caused brain haemorrhage which lead the deceased to succumb to the injuries then blood haemorrhage is a mechanism of death (Adcock & Chancellor, 2013). Mechanisms of death are not first degree factors that lead to death there must have been an initial incident which is a cause of death that will lead to mechanisms of death which will eventually transpire to the death of a person (Eliopulos, 2003). Natural death is simply death, which is occasioned by natural causes such as terminal illness, ageing or situations like heart failure. This category of death is where the body of a human being ceases to function in its own without any external factor contributing to the same. It is commonly associated with the life span of an ideal human being when the body organs have performed their duties to their best capacity, and they would not function any more (Prahlow, 2010). Homicide is where a person decided to take the life of another person purposely because of inherent reasons. This can be staged in a number of ways but the main point with homicide it is clearly planned and executed by those involved to kill innocent people in cold blood either by attacking him/her, or using any physical or scientific means to execute the murder. Homicide may result from a person being poisoned by others or killed by police who were trailing maybe suspected gangsters, etc. (Prahlow, 2010). Suicide is a self-inflicted death that is purposely done by a person who wants to inflict self-harm or ultimately kill him/her through hanging, gunshot or even drug overdose. It is an individual decision that does not involve external parties since it is planned and executed by the victim alone without the knowledge of any other external party. Suicide mainly occurs due to emotional distress or severe depression that would lead one to act in an unexpected manner (Eliopulos, 2003). Accidental death is mainly as a result of unexpected factors or situations that would ultimately lead to death of a person. For instance, if a person takes a drug overdose unknowingly that will be classified as accidental death since he/she did not have the intentions of overdosing which would ultimately lead to his/her death. Alternatively acts such as slipping from the balcony, car accident or even being killed unintentionally by a colleague during conflict all sum up to accidental deaths (Adcock & Chancellor, 2013). In the article, “Murder or Suicide? How You (and Your Detective) Can Tell the Difference” by Michelle Acker the incident involved death, which was resulted from shooting (Michelle, 2008). Thus, the police came to the scene of the incidence to analyze the situation to determine whether the incident was suicide of homicide. After careful analysis of the situations and other inherent factors surrounding the scene of the crime, they came up with a number of factors that indicated the death was indeed a suicide incident (Castleman, 2000). For instance, they checked where on the body the injury of the gun shot occurred in this case the gunshot wound was located on the side of the head this likely insinuated that the person just aimed his/herself to shot on the head for better results of death (Adcock & Chancellor, 2013). The next factor was the distance of the gun from the body. In this particular case the gunshot was made from close range or contact with the body since traces of gun power were noticeable in the victim’s hand and also there was a burn around the wound of the gunshot suggesting the shooting occurred from close proximity with the body (Castleman, 2000). Another factor that was used to classify the type of death was angle of the shot. In this scenario, the gun shot was done upwards suggesting it was the victim who held the gun and thus had to shot upwards since he would not aim in any other angle to shoot his head. Normally shots that are made through cloth suggest homicide but in this case the victim wore a hood but the shot was not made through cloth meaning he first had to remove the hood from his head before he would shoot himself (Adcock & Chancellor, 2013). A note was left behind most likely by the deceased that indicated the reason he had opted to commit suicide thus further proving the incident was a suicide case. Finally, the body when examined physically did not show any evidence of a struggle in terms of cuts , bruises thus dismissing the idea of the incident being a homicide since when someone is committing suicide he/she does not have to struggle with anybody (Castleman, 2000). When investigating death case the scene of crime and the victims are the most important elements that will bring together evidence required to pursue that particular case unlike other forms of crime where other external factors have to be incorporated so as to reconstruct evidence for that particular crime (Randall, 1997). In death investigations if the perpetrators of the crime mange to clear all the all evidence from the scene of crime and assume there were no eyewitnesses or CCTV cameras around the police will not gather any evidence concerning that crime (Castleman, 2000). For the case of other crimes despite clearing evidence from the scene, for instance a crime involving stealing a motor vehicle the police my track down the motor vehicle through GPS systems or even through random checks of engine and chassis numbers of vehicles (Adcock & Chancellor, 2013). Therefore, the main goal of conducting death investigations is to determine the cause of that particular death, circumstances under which it occurred and the perpetrators of that death to aid in further deliberations that may be necessary in line with the law (Castleman, 2000). Environmental factors at times influence death investigations for instance if a person was killed in cold blood and left on the ground and it rains most of the evidence will be washed away and it will be hard for the detectives to ascertain the real cause of death and categorize it. Ideally is the police make a slow response to a death case the body would have rotten and the autopsy results will not give the correct state of affairs as it was supposed to when the test would have been conducted in a timely manner (Randall, 1997). References Adcock, J. M., & Chancellor, A. S. (2013). Death investigations. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Castleman, T. L. (2000). Death investigation: A handbook for police officers. Springfield, Ill: C.C. Thomas. Cohen, D. W., & Atieno, O. E. S. (2004). The risks of knowledge: Investigations into the death of the Hon. Minister John Robert Ouko in Kenya, 1990. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers. Eliopulos, L. N. (2003). Death investigator's handbook. Boulder, Colo: Paladin Press. Institute of Medicine (U.S.). (2003). Medicolegal death investigation system: Workshop summary. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press. Michelle A., 2008. “Murder or Suicide? How You (and Your Detective) Can Tell the Difference. Prahlow, J. A. (2010). Forensic pathology for police, death investigators, and forensic scientists. Totowa, N.J: Humana. Randall, B. (1997). Death investigation: The basics. Tucson, Ariz: Galen Press. Read More