The Psychology of Death Investigations outlines definitively how behavioral evidence can often provide the necessary components and "missing pieces" to complement physical evidence as an essential tool for incident reconstruction. In order to determine the direction of an investigation and to prioritize leads, if necessary, death investigators must establish the manner of a death: natural, accident, homicide or suicide. The most overlooked aspect of death investigation is the psychological dimension, which can provide unique leads, correct false assumptions, enhance investigative awareness, and solve cases in surprising ways. In an estimated 10–20% of cases, the manner of death cannot be determined, or worse, has been erroneously categorized. Since many jurisdictions can’t afford behavioral consultants, this book has been written to provide practical information for a basic psychological analysis. If the circumstances surrounding a death are equivocal, psychological consultants can compile information retrospectively about a deceased person’s mental state and possible motive to assist with unravelling ambiguity about the manner of death. This is the primary function of a psychological autopsy, and, as such, this is the first book of its kind dedicated solely to the topic. In the event that the manner of death is determined to be a homicide, behavioral profiling can help to focus the potential pool of suspects. Professionals and students alike will benefit from the exercise of cognitive awareness and the application of psychological logic presented. Psychologists, medical examiners, coroners, attorneys, fraud examiners, law enforcement personnel, death and homicide investigators, and students enrolled in criminal profiling, forensic psychology, and criminal justice programs will find this text to be a compelling and insightful reference to add to their professional toolkit.

Introducing the basic concepts of clinical forensic medicine and death investigation, this book covers the main areas of forensic investigation . It provides an introduction to forensic science and coverage of injury patterns, natural disease, accidental trauma, child injury and fatalities, and domestic violence. Anyone who has direct contact with death, crime, and the medicolegal system, including nurses, physicians, attorneys, death investigators, forensic pathologists, and police detectives, will find this an invaluable reference.

Estimation of the Time Since Death remains the foremost authoritative book on scientifically calculating the estimated time of death postmortem. Building on the success of previous editions which covered the early postmortem period, this new edition also covers the later postmortem period including putrefactive changes, entomology, and postmortem r

This book brings together academics, practitioners and experts in the field of forensic psychology to demonstrate the scope of the discipline and push its parameters. Its aim is to go beyond introductory texts to challenge perceptions, to raise questions for research and to pose problems for practice. The editors hope to inspire and stimulate debate about how forensic psychology can aid the practice of justice. The book is divided into six sections, addressing key topics from the discipline: investigation and prosecution; testimony and evidence; serious and persistent offending; treatment as intervention; intervention and prevention and punishment and corrections. The contributors are drawn from the UK, the USA and Australia. This updated, revised and significantly expanded edition develops the picture of diversity and depth of forensic psychology; considers ways in which the discipline has progressed and identifies challenges for its future sustainability and growth. includes a new section on treatment as intervention with contributions on personality disordered offenders; anger control group work with forensic psychiatric inpatients; and developments in treatment for drug misuse offenders additional chapters throughout including contributions on UK police interviews; the investigation and prosecutoin of rape; the effect of gender in the courtroom; forensic psychology and terrorism; the aetiology of genocide; self harm in prisons; post-corrections reintegration and many more an innovative textbook on forensic psychology exploring application of the subject and setting forensic psychology in a broader context demonstrates ways in which forensic psychology can aid the practice of criminal justice This book will be essential reading for students of forensic psychology and practitioners working in the field.

There are no atheists in foxholes; or so we hear. The thought that the fear of death motivates religious belief has been around since the earliest speculations about the origins of religion. There are hints of this idea in the ancient world, but the theory achieves prominence in the works of Enlightenment critics and Victorian theorists of religion, and has been further developed by contemporary cognitive scientists. Why do people believe in gods? Because they fear death. Yet despite the abiding appeal of this simple hypothesis, there has not been a systematic attempt to evaluate its central claims and the assumptions underlying them. Do human beings fear death? If so, who fears death more, religious or nonreligious people? Do reminders of our mortality really motivate religious belief? Do religious beliefs actually provide comfort against the inevitability of death? In Death Anxiety and Religious Belief, Jonathan Jong and Jamin Halberstadt begin to answer these questions, drawing on the extensive literature on the psychology of death anxiety and religious belief, from childhood to the point of death, as well as their own experimental research on conscious and unconscious fear and faith. In the course of their investigations, they consider the history of ideas about religion's origins, challenges of psychological measurement, and the very nature of emotion and belief.

This remarkable book affords the opportunity to delve into the challenges that the forensic mental health specialist and public safety professional confront in death scene investigations.