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Why is time of death so important?

forensicscolleges.com - Homicide Investigations: How to Determine Time of Death

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Homicide Investigations: How to Determine Time of Death

Most people are familiar with how Hollywood handles death. A weary doctor mutters “Call it” in a TV drama after a medical team did everything they could but still couldn’t save someone from the cruel hand of fate; in other stories, the time of death is declared just before the dying character experiences something spiritually transformative which pushes him or her back into full consciousness. Regardless the outcome, heartbreaking or heartwarming, that moment demonstrates the usefulness of a supervised death in a clinical setting. Medical center staff can pinpoint the instant a patient succumbed—a point in time that may be disclosed to everyone from insurance companies to law enforcement. It’s a different story, however, for an unattended death, especially one that may be declared suspicious and when violence clearly took place. In these cases, law enforcement must use a combination of investigative techniques and science to calculate how much time elapsed between the victim taking their last breath and their remains being found.

Knowing this figure could be useful when trying to discover the circumstances of a victim’s death, including what time-related questions to ask possible witnesses and suspects and what other evidence to focus on. For example, if surveillance photos are available, are they needed from the preceding two hours or two days?

An accurate time of death also can help rule out possible suspects who may have been somewhere else when the death occurred and a more general time range could create a larger window for someone’s alibi. This information can be used in court to establish a case. While some officers seek clues by interviewing people associated with the victim, other crime scene investigators may utilize scientific methods of observation and examination to come up with a fairly accurate time of death. Of course, this process is difficult and requires advanced training to know where to look and how to measure variables; not surprisingly, the information needs to be precise, accurate, and able to stand up in court, especially when defense attorneys go out of their way to question every action and procedure. Several occupations contribute to homicide investigations, including crime scene technicians, who analyze and process evidence or medicolegal investigators, who focus scientifically on how a death occured. These can be rewarding professions since they not only help law enforcement track down killers and bring closure to families, but they also make decent money in the process. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS Oct. 2017) reported that the median annual wage for forensic science technicians was $27.29 per hour or $56,750 annually. Furthermore, it’s a field poised to grow much faster than average in the coming decade. In fact, the BLS anticipated a 17 percent increase in openings for these trained professionals between 2016 and 2026—an increase from 15,400 to 17,000 nationally. The drawbacks to working in this environment are obvious; death scenes are by nature messy, and unattended deaths may be even less appealing with the prospect of gore and decomposition. Assessing time of death also may require manipulation of someone’s remains and examining their organs right at a crime scene—not just measuring blood spatters or looking for bullet trajectories. This guide offers a summary of how investigators typically determine a person’s time of death and features several college programs to help aspiring forensics professionals learn the tools of the trade.

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