Abstract
The importance of a well-structured history and interview and its correlation with physical examination and laboratory investigation is established in both diagnoses of disease and crime investigation. But in India, medico-legal experts are rarely involved in history and interviews with suspects and witnesses. During the psychological autopsy, various information was obtained which were very useful for the investigation of the case but did not fall under the purview of the psychological autopsy. This new terminology was coined namely Medico-legal Interview for Information Retrieval (MLIIR).
Introduction
Coordinated approaches among the different experts are key to success in any field including crime investigation. Crime investigation is a purely scientific field which involves the expertise of various disciplines but the most important role of that person comes who is capable of coordinating all experts, available information and evidence. Therefore, such a person should be well qualified in scientific subjects related to crime investigation and should have access to all types of information with the capability to understand the nature and importance of different scientific evidence and should be able to correlate them to draw reasoned inferences.
Being medical professionals we compare the crime investigation analogous to a diagnosis of disease which involves history, physical examination and investigations. In India the basic difference between disease diagnosis and crime investigation is, in the case of disease diagnosis history and physical examination are done by the same individual and also the decision of lab investigation and its correlation is done by the same who is the specialist of that subject. Whereas in crime investigation the functions analogous to history taking, physical examination (autopsy or injury examination) and lab investigation are done by three different agencies like police/magistrate (or other similar agencies), Medico-legal expert (doctor specialized in Forensic Medicine) and forensic science experts, respectively.
Among all these steps in clinical diagnosis the researchers, experienced teachers and medical professionals emphasized the most important role of history. In one research it has been established that history, physical examination and investigations contribute about 76%, 12%, and 11%, respectively. 1 Other researchers also established the role of good history taking most important.2, 3
However, in India, these agencies are working independently of each other with minimum coordination among them. 4 Even these three agencies are not able to understand the basic terminologies of scientific works related to the other two fields. Besides these the most important scientific responsibility of history, crime scene investigation and correlating all scientific evidence with available history has been given to medically and scientifically unqualified and inexperienced magistrates and police. In many places, even no column of information obtained by history and crime scene investigation has been provided in the format of medico-legal reports.
In many developed countries a person qualified in Forensic Medicine/Pathology and trained in law known as a medical examiner has been given responsibility at most of the stages of investigations including crime scene investigation, post-mortem examination, evidence collection witness and suspect interview etc.5, 6
Due to these reasons, medical examiner of inquest in the Federal Court of USA, conviction rate extends to 99.8%, whereas in India it is 50.4%.7, 8
Besides these due to the non-involvement of forensic medicine experts in history, crime scene investigation, and collaboration of scientific evidence added with insufficient information provided by police in the inquest report, number of negative autopsies becomes falsely high thus doctors are failing in their honors duty to find out the exact cause of death and to reduce the number of negative autopsies as far as possible.9–11
The author during psychological autopsy accidentally received various information which were very useful in crime investigation but did not fall under the scope of psychological autopsy therefore coined the new terminology “Medico-legal Interview for Information Retrieval (MLIIR).”
Current System of Crime Investigation in India
In India mainly three types of agencies are involved in crime investigations against the human body:
Police/Magistrate or other similar agencies
They are non-scientific persons neither qualified in science nor necessarily in law They are responsible for the following works in crime investigations:
Crime scene investigation. Deciding scientific laboratory investigations. Interview/interrogation of suspects and witnesses. Collection of materials for scientific investigations. Interpretation of scientific reports. Correlation of scientific reports. Forensic Medicine experts
They are qualified in medical science and basic criminal laws. They are entrusted with the following works:
Examination of living or dead bodies and preparation of medico-legal reports. Collection of biological materials from the human body for laboratory analysis. Forensic Science experts
They are qualified in any one of the subjects of science. They are responsible for the analysis of samples in a laboratory.
Lacunae in Current Crime Investigation in India
Scientific and non-scientific agencies are working independently with no discussion among them. Even they are not able to understand the basic terminologies used in the other two disciplines.
Forensic Medicine experts are not aware of the report of crime scene investigation, history and information obtained from interviews of witnesses and suspects.
Crime scene investigation is rarely done by scientific/forensic medicine experts.
Interpretation and correlation of scientific reports are done by non-scientific people.
Current Role of Scientific Experts in Interviewing Suspects and Witnesses
In the present system scientific experts are playing a limited role in some of the investigations which are as follows:
Polygraph Narco-analysis Brain mapping Eye detection system Psychological autopsy.
In this skin conductivity, respiratory rate, heart rate and blood pressure, and are continuously recorded expecting a change in their pattern upon lying due to stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system.12, 13 Questions are designed after studying available information preferably by forensic experts.14–16 The accuracy of this test has been found to the tune of 45%–60%.
15
Although it is the oldest and most basic method of deception detection it is not used for the purpose of correlating the medico-legal reports. Also, it can be used in very selective suspects and witnesses with limitations of easy coning and confession is not possible.
In this, a person at an appropriate level of semi-consciousness which is brought about by hypnotic drugs cannot invent falsehood on questioning that can conceal his guilt.
17
According to different guidelines and practices, different experts are included in the team comprising of anesthesiologist, psychiatrists, psychologists, forensic medicine experts, and nursing staff. Videographers etc. Although in this procedure success rate is very high and confession is possible as it is an invasive procedure and law requires consent of the subject therefore it is not frequently used.18, 19 Besides these required depth of trance stage is difficult to maintain however author introduced a new technique namely BIS (Bispectral Index) electrode to objectify the monitoring.
In this technique the electrical brain wave response namely MERMER (memory encoding related multifaceted electroencephalographic responses) is measured which is generated by exposing words, phrases, pictures, videos, etc. on a computer screen.20, 21 It is 100% accurate but requires expensive setup and higher expertise.
22
It can only suggest whether individual had seen crime scene or not.
It is a type of Ocular-motor Deception Test (ODT) based on an infrared system which records different types of eye movements (like fixation, blinking and pupil dilation), response rate, cognitive workload, reading behavior, error rate, involuntary deception cues etc. With increasing lie cognitive load increases which affects eye behavior.23–25 It is a newer method which on careful interpretation yields better results. It is expensive requires higher expertise and is not intended to correlate entire history and medico-legal reports.
Psychological autopsy is the procedure conducted in a case suicide to unearth intention and state of mind of the deceased prior to death through structured interviews of the people knowing the deceased closely and also by perusal of relevant records.26–29 It is handy even when a physical autopsy cannot be done. However, it is of limited use as it is used in only suicidal cases and is also difficult to rule out biases.
Medico-legal Interview for Information Retrieval
In the Indian system of crime investigation, there is no opportunity for medico-legal experts to be involved in interview of suspects or witnesses and also crime scene visits by medico-legal experts are very rare. But being an institute of national importance, some cases were referred for both medico-legal opinion and psychological autopsy to AIIMS, Patna, in which even the manner of deaths was in question. Therefore, a combined team of forensic medicine experts, psychiatrists, and psychologists was formed. During the psychological autopsy and examination of documents by the combined team it was felt that much such information was elicited which was useful in the investigation and had not been elicited by investing agencies yet but not falling in the purview of psychological autopsy. As in the opinion of psychiatrists and psychologists, psychological autopsy can only be used in known cases of suicide to know the circumstances leading to suicide and is not meant to differentiate suicide, homicide or accident. Thus, the need to coin new terminology was felt and it was decided to coin the term “Medico-legal Interview for Information Retrieval (MLIIR)”. Methods of MLIIR suggested as follows:
It should be done by a team of Forensic Medicine experts. Psychiatrist and/or psychologist may be included in the team when required. Team should visit crime scene, collect evidence, interview suspects & witnesses, analyse medico-legal and scientific reports, correlate entire information & evidences, plan further investigation and suggest law enforcement agencies. Team should take help of experts in other fields of science, art, law, undercover informer etc. Team should issue final report/opinion on cause, manner and circumstance of death after analyzing all facet of investigation.
Advantages
The scope of this procedure is broader than psychological autopsy as psychological autopsy is limited to suicidal cases only. As it shall be done by a team of multidisciplinary experts, therefore, questionnaire and responses shall be more exhaustive and relevant. As it shall be done by scientific experts therefore correlation of information and evidence shall be more relevant.
Disadvantage
Direct confession is not possible which is possible in narco-analysis. By only interview, only circumstantial information can be retrieved, however as the team shall analyse all medico-legal and scientific evidence therefore final opinion shall be given with more certainty.
Discussion
Various types of inquests/inquiries are prevalent in different parts of the world and are conducted by medical examiner, coroner, magistrate, police, juries etc. In India presently two systems are in place, that is, police and magistrate systems. In this system role of medico-legal experts is limited to issuing autopsy reports, injury reports and other medico-legal reports. Their interpretation and correlation are done by non-scientific people.
A wide range of involvement of medico-legal experts has been felt by the different authors, researchers and agencies all over the world especially in the history, interview and interpretation & collaboration of evidence. Reddy KSN suggests medical officers find out the apparent cause of death before autopsy by careful examination of documents and other available details as lack of information may result in loss of evidence. 11 Kumar B et al. found significant improvement in the opinion regarding cause, manner and time of death when medico-legal experts perform crime scene visits and interviews with witnesses. 4
Such functions of medico-legal experts are optimally utilized by medical examiners practicing in the USA, in most jurisdictions. Indian coroner system was similar to medical examiner system which was abolished completely from India in 1999. 30 When the Forensic Medicine department was established in India, Dr. Urquhart who was a private practitioner who was also posted as city corner was given charge of Professor in Forensic Medicine at Medical College of Madras in 1857. 31
The medical examiner can be differentiated from other types of inquest by the fact that a medical man (forensic medicine/forensic pathology specialist) with the necessary training in law and death investigation, conducts or oversees most portions of scientific crime investigations whereas in others it is confined to preparation of medico-legal reports.32, 33
To further discuss the topic, in 2003 the authorities of Washington DC formed a committee for deliberation on a system of medico-legal death investigation. After conducting the workshop pertinent recommendations and observations were published in a workshop summary under
33
:
The process of certifying a death should only be carried out by a well-qualified medical man who possesses the basic competencies of evaluating recent and past medical histories, speaking with witnesses, performing physical examinations, and coordinating autopsy results with crime scene and laboratory results. The public health system, pathology departments, forensic science labs, and other subspecialty facilities should all be housed in medical schools, which should oversee the ideal medical examiner system. To promote excellent professionalism in crime investigation, it was ultimately determined in the workshop to nationally approve the replacement of coroner investigation by medical examiner.
Consequently, in the year 2007, coroner investigation system was completely replaced by the medical examiner investigation system and Chief Medical Examiner was given the position of coroner. 33
Conclusion
Crime investigation is a multidisciplinary work involving expertise of various specialties in which interview/interrogation should be done in the background of results of scientific investigations and also vice versa, that is, scientific investigations should be planned in accordance with information available from the scientific interview. Thereafter all information should correlate to reach up to conclusion. Presently all these works are done by different independent agencies with no interaction among them in the name of secrecy resulting in low conviction rate. Therefore, crime investigation by combined team of investigating agencies, forensic medicine experts, forensic psychiatrists/psychologists, forensic science experts etc is need of hour. This dream may come true by establishing medico-legal institute where all facilities may be established under one roof.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Ethical Approval and Informed Consent
Not applicable.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.