Coroner

Program-Specific Information

The National Science and Technology Council’s Fast-Track Action Committee on Strengthening the Medicolegal-Death-Investigation System’s (FTAC-SMDIS) report titled Strengthening the Medicolegal-Death-Investigation System: Improving Data Systems notes that death investigations performed by ME/C offices are vital to criminal justice by investigating violent deaths. Of the estimated 2.6 million deaths annually, ME/C offices investigate nearl 500,000 cases in approximately 2,400 jurisdictions. FTAC-SMDIS found that the ME/C community lacks adequate personnel and resources to address the country’s medicolegal death investigation (MDI) needs. In addition, FTAC-SMDIS reports that there are systemic issues with death investigation data quality and infrastructure, inadequate facilities, and inconsistent expertise levels.3 Other reports such as the 2009 National Academy of Sciences Report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward have also asserted a need to address deficient facilities, equipment, staffing, education, and training for MDI.