In this episode Darren has a conversation with a student about spontaneous suicide. They discuss what it is and does it really exist. Referred to sometimes as Acute Suicide or Impulsive Suicide, the debate is whether there are suicide deaths by people who just decide for no apparent reason to end their life and no…
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Suicide Victimology Check out the online course here: https://www.ditacademyonline.org/courses/Suicide-and-Self-Harm Victimology is the collection and assessment of any significant information as it pertains to the victim and his or her lifestyle. Investigators must know the victim and complete a victimology study on every suicide, you cannot properly investigate a death without it. Ultimately you need to…
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Compassion v. Security. Police officers have the unique job of showing compassion to family and friends at the scene of a death while maintaining good scene security. This can be a slippery slope if not approached correctly. So what is your number one goal; compassion or security – and can you be successful in both?…
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Forensic anthropology is the analysis of skeletal, badly decomposed, or otherwise unidentified human remains, and is important in both legal and humanitarian contexts. Forensic anthropologists apply standard scientific techniques developed in physical anthropology to analyze human remains, and to aid in the detection of crime. In addition to assisting in locating and recovering human skeletal remains, forensic anthropologists…
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In most cases it’s as much, or more, about the technique than the equipment when it comes to crime scene videography. Forensic video production is valuable for showing an overview of the crime scene and should be considered in major cases. While video cannot replace still photographs due to its lower resolution, video does provide an…
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The term “shaken baby syndrome” (SBS) was developed to explain those instances in which severe intracranial trauma occurred in the absence of signs of external head trauma. SBS is the severe intentional application of violent force (shaking) in one or more episodes, resulting in intracranial injuries to the child. Physical abuse of children by shaking…
Read MoreThe assisted suicide movement is, if anything, indefatigable. Not only is it undeterred by its failures, but it is now more energized than any other time in recent years. By the end of March of 2015, bills were introduced in twenty-five state legislatures to legalize assisted suicide. Defining the Subject Many people remain confused about…
Read MoreThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects data about mortality in the U.S., including deaths by suicide. In 2013 (the most recent year for which full data are available), 41,149 suicides were reported, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death for Americans. In that year, someone in the country died by suicide every…
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A forensic pathologist can not work in a vacuum, they must have critical information gathered at the scene by qualified investigators. It is only with this information and the results of the autopsy that a ruling can be made. It is often that a ruling will be delayed, or no determination made at all,…
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GENERALLY ACCEPTED GUIDELINES 1. Avoid bias; explore alternative hypotheses or explanations The most important thing for a child interviewer to do to obtain a reliable statement from the child is to have no preconceived belief as to what happened. The approach should be one of hypothesis-testing. Unfortunately, many interviewers try to get the child to…
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