CRIM 355 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Post-Mortem Interval, Forensic Pathology, Medical History
28 Jan 2020
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Crim 355 - lecture 4 - estimating time since death. Estimating when victim died gives police a time frame for murder. Focuses on criminal investigation on particular window of time. When time victim died is unknown, difficult for family to come to terms w/ death. Time of death may also be very important in insurance claims. Although important for compassionate reasons to estimate time since death in non- criminal cases, knowing time of death can make or break an alibi in homicide. Time of death helps determine what victim was doing, who they were with, etc. W/i few hours after death, often very difficult to determine time of death b/c so many variables involved. Range of window of prediction usually depends on how much time has passed since death & becomes wider as time passes. Several ways that might be used to estimate when person died.
