Forensic Pathologys Role in Homicide Investigations Research Paper

Forensic Pathologys Role in Homicide Investigations - Research Paper Example Today, when death occurs that raises suspicion, a forensic investigation is conducted so as to understand the cause of death, the identity of the deceased, time, and place where the death occurred, how the death occurred, as well as the circumstances of the death (Wecht & Kaufmann, 2009). However, unlike the investigations initially conducted by coroners, forensic investigations are conducted by professionally trained medical examiners so as to establish the real cause of death. What is notable is that forensic investigation of the cause of death is multi-disciplinary that entails the collaboration of forensic pathologist, forensic scientists, crime scene investigators (CSIs), entomologists, anthropologists, as well as odontologists among other specialists (Wecht & Kaufmann, 2009). This paper will explore the roles of forensic pathologist in homicide investigations. A forensic pathologist refers to a professional medical doctor performing autopsies on people whose deaths have occurred suddenly, unexpectedly or due to poisonings or trauma (Robinson & Cina, 2011). The causes of such deaths are not easy to determine without a special postmortem investigations being conducted on the body to establish the real cause of death and the circumstances that led to the death. Generally when a death has been reported, it is the responsibility of crime scene investigators (CSIs) to move to the scene of the accident and carry out preliminary investigations as to the cause of death (Robinson & Cina, 2011). Nevertheless, it has come out that some deaths especially those involving sudden deaths resulting from homicide such as serial murders are not easy to establish without a postmortem thereby calling for forensic pathologists to carry out investigations. Therefore, one of the major roles of forensic pathologists as far as the investigation of homicide is concerned is the