ABSTRACT
In cases in which a person's death was caused by means not immediately apparent a procedure known as equivocal death analysis may be employed. This consists of attempting to form a view of the mental state of the deceased from records and people who might have known the person. Whilst this relatively new procedure has some advantages over the subjective opinion that is sometimes used in such enquiries it is not a wellestablished and thoroughly tested technique. The present chapter discusses approaches to carrying out equivocal death analyses. It concludes that this procedure has great potential but also carries grave risks if used without considerable caution.
