Time Since Death Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Time Since Death - Essay Example Therefore, the estimation of the time since death is very essential, since it enables the investigators to narrow down their investigation to a given time frame, which makes it easier to investigate the circumstances that surround such deaths and the possible causes (Newberry, Lewis & Walters, 2004:936). Further, the accurate estimation of the time since death is also crucial for enabling the investigators to narrow down to a narrow range of suspects associated with the death, owing to the fact that, when the time since death is known, then it is easy to know the immediate individuals that were associated with the victim, as opposed to when the time since death is unknown (Payne-James, 2003:93). Therefore, this discussion seeks to analyze the various methods that may be used for the estimation of time since death, with a view to critically assessing the merits and demerits of each of these methods. First, the discussion will explain the different methods applicable in estimating the time since death. Secondly, the discussion will tackle the merits associated with each method. Thirdly, the discussion will present the demerits associated with each method. Finally, the discussion will be summed up by a conclusion, which will recap the important points of the discussion, state limitations associated with the discussion and raise the necessary questions, if any. There are various methods that can be applied to estimate the time of death of an individual, depending on the environment where the body is found, the evidence available and the nature of the cause of death (Szelecz, Fournier, Seppey, Amendt & Mitchell, 2014:671). The different methods that can be applied to estimate the time since death include: This is a method applied to estimate time since death, through the measurement of the core temperature of the body, relative to the temperature of the surrounding environment where the body is found, also referred to as the ambient temperature (Warther,