NCJ Number
186550
Date Published
January 2001
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This report presents the proceedings of a training workshop on death investigations conducted for the Ministry of Interior, Judicial Police, Royal Government of Cambodia; it offers recommendations for improving the training.
Abstract
The training was conducted by the University of Hong Kong Centre for Criminology on behalf of the Cambodian Criminal Justice Assistance Project. This 5-day introductory workshop on medico-legal death investigation was conducted in May 1999. The workshop covered introductory aspects of the medical determination of cause of death. The purpose of the course was to improve the capability of Judicial Police and "court doctors" in death investigations. The objectives of the workshop were to improve determination and documentation of preliminary cause of death, introduce forensic autopsy procedures and the determination of final cause of death, improved application of ancillary investigations, definition of the role of the police, and the identification of potential candidates for advanced training in forensic autopsy. This report recommends that follow-up training focus on documentation and procedures while including practical training in the fundamentals. Further, training in forensic firearms examination and equipment should have priority, given the incidence of death by firearms and the frequent use of firearms in criminal activities.