CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
The death investigation is the process of systematically analyzing a specific person or location to find out the main cause of death. This process is mainly undertaken by police or concerned members of the family of the deceased with the help of police investigators or medical officers. Death may occur as a result of these main four processes, natural death, homicide, suicide and accidental death. The death investigation has certain goals that are achieved when the process complete. These goals are, identifying the cause of death, categorizing of the manner of death, collecting significant evidence, preparation of the death certificate and finally writing official reports of finding.
According to Birzer and Roberson (2016), natural deaths are as a result of diseases, mechanism of organ failure, infectious agents and old age and it is mostly expected by the victim. Accidental death occurs due to unexpected events such as automobile accidents, drug overdose, industrial accidents and home accidents. Suicide is a self-inflicted death which is done by use of firearms, suffocation and poisoning. Suicide victims may at times leave small notes containing reasons for their actions. Homicide is unlawful killing of a human being by another human being. Elements of homicide include malice and intent (Birzer and Roberson 2016).
In identifying homicide type of death the police department uses various means such as classifying the murder. Homicide murder can be classified into either criminal, non-criminal and legitimate depending on the occasion (Hess, Orthman and Cho 2013). Criminal homicide includes man slaughter while non-criminal homicide includes the involuntary killing of a different person and legitimate homicide is killing of a person under the permission of law. When the police find a body within a day, they can identify the time of death by the help of medical investigators by use of rigor mortis, post mortem lividity, the appearance of the eyes and stomach content (Hess, Orthman and Cho 2013).
Another source of identifying homicide death is by use of forensic entomology which can identify the season of death, the geographical location, and movement of the body after death, sexual harassment and even drug abuse (Hess, Orthman and Cho 2013). The medical autopsy then provides the legal evidence as to the cause of death and it may also reveal information about the suspect. The police may also determine homicide death by use of physical evidence such as weapons, blood, and fibers. The type of evidence available will depend on the nature of homicide and the scene involved (Hess, Orthman and Cho 2013).
Police can also use additional factor such as eye witness who may be relative or acquaintances of the deceased to get information about the suspect and have a thorough check on the location of murder as the suspect may be found before he or she escapes (Hess, Orthman and Cho 2013). The police also involve in preliminary actions whose main goal is to a save life. If death has not occurred, the police can enter the premise without a warranty to give instant medical assistance to the person. Like the case of Flippo v. West V Virginia (1999), the Supreme Court allowed the police to make a warrantless entry into the premise if they reasonably believed that the person was in need of immediate aid and if the killer was in the premise (Hess, Orthman and Cho 2013).
Environmental factors influence medical examination and autopsy in various ways. For instance, the process of rigor mortis which is the stiffening of the muscle and it happens a few hours after death may be slowed by extreme cold temperature thus happening at a slower rate than expected (Prahlow and Bayrd 2012). Medical examiners use rigor mortis to determine the time of death thus in cold environmental temperature as the process is delayed the accurate time of death may not be identified. Similarly, the process of algor mortis which is the cooling of the body that takes place after death may affect autopsy. In high temperature areas the body may get warm due to the clothes worn, body weight and dampness thus consideration of algor mortis in death investigation becomes inaccurate. Decomposition of the body is also highly influenced by environmental factors. Heat accelerates decomposition while cold slows it (Prahlow and Bayrd 2012).
According to Van and Bourke (2017), the most effective ways of handling violent crimes includes a series of activities initiated by identifying the crime itself. Secondly, the crime scene is comprehensively evaluated and the victim is analyzed. The preliminary police and medical reports are then evaluated and profile of the offender is created. Other application of criminal investigation may also be used. They includes, interrogative strategies, search warrant suggestions and prosecution strategies. The investigation process requires various improvements in crime resolution. These improvements include, identifying of a major offender feature to determine major crimes, reinforcing of the evidence processing capabilities, increase the utilization of information processing systems and initiate programs to reward citizens for the role they play in solving crimes as stated by Palmiotto (2012).
Criminal investigation includes various areas such as death investigation, burglary, robbery, sexual assaults and kidnaping. Each crime requires police attention and should follow the required procedure of investigation to come up with the evidence. Though Criminal investigations face various challenges such as public and media pressure, when handled in the right procedure they produce the right form of evidence.
Birzer. M., Roberson .C. (2016), Introduction to Criminal Investigation. New York. CRC Press
Hess M.K, Orthmann .H .C Cho H .L. (2013), Police Operations: Theory and Practice. The USA. Cengage Learning.
Palmiotto.J.M. (2012), Criminal Investigation, fourth edition. CRC Press.
Prahlow. J. A. & Byard. R. W. (2012). Atlas of forensic pathology. New York: Springer.
Van .H. V. B. Bourke, M. L. (2017). Handbook of behavioral criminology. Cham. Springer.
