The medico-legal investigation of death in custody - a review of cases admitted to the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory, 2007-2011

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dc.contributor.advisor Du Toit-Prinsloo, Lorraine
dc.contributor.postgraduate Barit, Shimon
dc.date.accessioned 2013-09-09T07:24:42Z
dc.date.available 2013-04-18 en
dc.date.available 2013-09-09T07:24:42Z
dc.date.created 2013-04-05 en
dc.date.issued 2013-04-18 en
dc.date.submitted 2013-03-19 en
dc.description Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. en
dc.description.abstract The universally controversial issue of deaths in custody is especially pertinent to South Africa. This study was prompted due to the increasingly diminishing ability for a concerted effort at tackling this issue by all parties involved. The 5 year retrospective, descriptive case audit performed at the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory aimed to evaluate the current medico-legal investigation of deaths in custody in Pretoria, South Africa. Over half of the deaths (52%) occurred as a result of police action, 30% in police custody and 18% in correctional services custody. Gunshot wounds and hangings were the number 1 and 2 most common causes of death, respectively, with homicide and suicide being the 2 most common manners of death, respectively. The principal conclusion from the results is the presence of a flawed and malfunctioning medico-legal investigation system. The introduction of a formal protocol is urgently required to provide a framework for these investigations. en
dc.description.availability Unrestricted en
dc.description.degree MSc
dc.description.department Forensic Medicine en
dc.identifier.citation Barit, S 2013, The medico-legal investigation of death in custody - a review of cases admitted to the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory, 2007-2011, MSc Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/30694> en
dc.identifier.other C13/4/335/gm en
dc.identifier.upetdurl http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03192013-193345/ en
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/30694
dc.language.iso en
dc.publisher University of Pretoria
dc.rights © 2013 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria C13/4/335/ en
dc.subject UCTD en
dc.subject Deaths in custody
dc.subject Medico-legal examination
dc.subject Independent police investigative directorate
dc.subject Judicial inspectorate of correctional service
dc.subject Forensic pathology service
dc.subject Custody
dc.title The medico-legal investigation of death in custody - a review of cases admitted to the Pretoria Medico-Legal Laboratory, 2007-2011 en
dc.type Dissertation en


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