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N O V 2 0 1 6 D E C
Cooper (2011) states that psychological
autopsies have four main purposes for their uti-
lization and are as follows… (A) determine the
mode of an equivocal death (B) to discover why
the death in question happened at a particular
time and date (C) discovery of the motivational
factors of the death and (D) therapeutic purpos-
es for helping the survivors of the deceased to
come to terms with the tragedy. It is the intent
of the PA and those conducting it to determine
the manner of death to as high a degree of cer-
tainty as possible, therefore, a working knowl-
edge of statistical databases is important.
It is pertinent to speak of the victim due
to their being the focal point of the technique
in question. The lives of any individual can be
thought of as a story and the same can be said of
an individual’s death. Information about the vic-
tim is an invaluable source to investigators as well
as to those performing a PA, therefore, a profile
of the victim must be constructed. Victim infor-
mation speaks volumes and is critical to criminal
investigations. Another purpose for a PA, in ad-
dition to those already mentioned, is that of a
PA having the ability to establish the relationship
between offender and victim in cases where an
equivocal death can be deemed as suspicious in
nature and due to criminal actions. The impor-
tance of information about the victim cannot be
stressed enough and it can be said that “to know
the offender, you must know the victim.” No
individual “asks” to be a victim, however, many
contribute to their plight during their life course.
Investigators should perform an “Exposure Anal-
ysis” when looking at deaths that are suspicious in
nature. Vecchi is in agreement with Turvey (2008)
in that exposure analysis can be thought of as “ex-
posure vs. blame” as it relates to the relationship
of a victim to their lifestyle and environment, and
of an offender to that victim.
An individual can become a victim due to two
types of exposure… lifestyle and situational. The
two aforementioned terms are defined by Turvey
& Petherick (2009) and are as follows… lifestyle
exposure holds that some people are more prone to
being victimized due to their behavior, habits, or
customs which exposes them to a greater amount of
contact with crime and criminals (i.e. prostitutes,
narcotics users). Situational exposure is the amount
of one’s exposure to harmful elements experienced
by the victim that results from their environment
and personal traits at the time of their victimization
(i.e. “being in the wrong place at the wrong time”
such as tourists in a foreign country).
sis of the victim’s life and can be thought of as
a technique which “looks through the victim’s
eyes” in order to ascertain as to why they died
and to see the world from the victim’s perspec-
tive. It must be stated here that the terms “vic-
tim”, “deceased”, and “decedent” will be used in-
terchangeably throughout this writing in order to
avoid any confusion from arising in their usage.
Turvey (2008) states that the origins of
psychological autopsies can be traced back to the
1950’s when the Los Angeles medical examiner
consulted with the LA Suicide Prevention Cen-
ter for further classification of equivocal deaths,
but it was E.S. Shneidman who first coined the
term “psychological autopsy” in order to refer to
the procedure that was initially designed to assist
medical examiners in classifying deaths that ap-
peared to be ambiguous, uncertain, or equivocal
as it pertained to the manner of death.
The PA technique/process consists of two
types: “Suicide Psychological Autopsies” (SPA)
and “Equivocal Death Psychological Autop-
sies” (EDPA). An SPA is a clinical approach
which is performed when the manner of death
is unequivocally a suicide based on the presence
of self-inflicted injury evidence and explicit/
implicit intent to die. Tasu (2008) defines and
EDPA as “A form of death investigation that
must analyze alternative manners of death in at-
tempting to provide new information concern-
ing the circumstances surrounding an equivocal
death which can then be investigated further by
investigators. He also provides an example of
a death applicable to an EDPA being that of a
homicide made to appear as a suicide through
crime scene staging. It should be noted that the
most common form of equivocal deaths which
are examined in the United States are those sus-
pected to be of a suicidal nature but are not for
certain (See “Psychological Autopsies”) .
The question may arise as to who performs
a PA. Psychological autopsies can be thought
of as a form of mental health assessment but in
this particular scenario, the assessment is done
without the active participation of the individual
in question. Tasu (2008) explains that psycholo-
gists or psychiatrists who have training and/or
experience in death investigations and forensic
pathology typically perform the PA. Diana Mc-
Coy (2011) states that in order for one to per-
form a PA, expertise is required in suicidology,
personality theory, and high risk behavior as well
as some familiarity with crime scene evidence.
Whether a victim’s exposure is due to their
lifestyle or is situational in nature, an analysis
of these concepts is very much prudent when
conducting a PA in order to ascertain as to how
this contributed to an individual’s victimiza-
tion in that either form of exposure allows an
offender to gain knowledge of their victim and
also assists them in seeking out the appropri-
ate opportunity also. Exposure analysis during
the course of a PA can give investigators insight
into the mindset of an offender.
Psychological Autopsy: Methodologies
The utilization of a PA can be thought
of as a process of “taking a person’s life apart”
and due to this fact, it is an exhaustive and
painstaking endeavor. In fact, James Knoll
(2008) reveals that it has been estimated
that a PA can take as long as 20-50 hours
to be completed. The material and informa-
tion needed to perform this process can be
voluminous, and is held that the greater the
amount of relevant information pertaining to
the victim that can be reviewed and analyzed,
the more accurate the conclusions formed by
investigators will be upon its completion in
determining the manner of a victim’s death.
The material and information required for
the completion of a PA falls into two catego-
ries: human and documentary. This article
will delve into both categories summarily but
it should be noted that due to the enormity
of material required for the procedure in
question, there is neither the time or space
in this to expound upon all of the elements
required but for a more comprehensive list
of relevant materials required, the reader can
refer to the table provided in “Forensic Tech-
niques in Crime Scene Investigation- the Psy-
chological Autopsy” by Bogdan Tasu (2008).
The forms of documentary information
required during a PA will include the review
and analysis of the following… histories of
the victim which will entail financial history,
legal history of the decedent (including crim-
inal), residential history (this should include
a reference as to the stability of the individual
in matters of as to if they had the tendency
to relocate frequently), employment history
(this should allude to any difficulties the indi-
vidual may have had while employed as well
as if they had the tendency to change jobs
frequently).
Psychological Autopsiescontinued from page 15
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