ABSTRACT
The psychological autopsy is a postmortem investigative tool that helps to ascertain the decedent’s role in his own demise. It is an investigative tool that helps to reconstruct the decedent’s background, personal relationships, habits, character, and coping patterns. Its purpose is to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between the decedent’s lifestyle and his death. The purpose of this chapter is to provide some guidelines, definitions, and applications of this procedure in law enforcement and forensic investigations. The most frequent question asked in an investigation of a medically unattended death is whether the individual who was alone committed suicide or died accidentally. On occasion the question is asked whether another person was present and whether it was intended or not. These questions involve complex issues of fact, behavior, and intent, and are at times unanswerable. Opinions should not be rendered without detailed information about the death scene and victim’s history (Hazelwood, Dietz, & Burgess, 1981).
