Keywords: corpse inquest, on-site inquest, problems existing in historical method records.

Abstract: Since ancient times, autopsy is one of the essential contents of death criminal cases, because it plays a great role in proving the case. It is not only related to the truth of the death of the deceased, but also to the justice and correctness of the judicial organs in China. Autopsy involves a wide range of contents and knowledge, which is the root of its problems. Therefore, in order to improve the correctness of autopsy conclusions, it is necessary to improve the knowledge level of inspectors and the division and cooperation of inspectors.

First, the historical development of corpse examination

Among the bamboo slips of Qin tomb in Shuihudi during the Warring States period, the printed diagnosis style is the earliest work to record the on-site autopsy in ancient China. The most successful is the earliest systematic forensic work "Injustice Collection". 1248 "Remembering Injustice" records: "The loss of prison situation is mostly due to the beginning." The earliest autopsy cases abroad can be found in 1256. The earliest autopsy case abroad is recorded in 1286. The first judicial autopsy was conducted in 1302. /kloc-in the first half of the 6th century, Vesaliua was the first person to conduct autopsy and completely explain the internal structure of the human body scientifically, abandoning the previous speculative exposition. ( 1)

Western countries have a long history of inspection and appraisal. According to the literature, as early as in ancient Greece, doctors had the practice of autopsy. For example, in 44 BC, after Julius Caesar was stabbed in the hall of the Roman Senate, his body was examined by famous doctors at that time. Tess pointed out after the examination: Caesar was stabbed 23 times, but only one place in the chest was fatal.

As early as the Anglo-Saxon kingdom from the 5th century to the 9th century, the British king appointed some officials to various counties to protect the king's property and the interests of the royal family and limit the power of local governors. When a local death case occurs, because these officials are the representatives of the king, they are impartial and authoritative, so they preside over the autopsy and evidence investigation and make a ruling. This is the origin of the British coroner system.

With the development of practice, the laws of some European countries began to provide for inspection and appraisal. In the 6th century A.D., there were already provisions on identity in the Justinian Code of the Eastern Roman Empire. 1507, the Bamberg Proceedings of the Archdiocese of Bamberg stipulates that a judge must consult a doctor before making a judgment on cases of infanticide and personal injury. In 1532, the word "identification" was clearly used in the German Caroline Code for the first time. There are 2 19 codes, 40 of which are related to identification. For example, as stipulated in Articles 134 and 147 of the Code, in the investigation of homicide cases and injury deaths, it is necessary for doctors to conduct appraisal. Since then, legislators in many countries have written the provisions on appraisal into law.

At the same time, a number of pioneers in forensic medicine research have emerged in European countries. /kloc-At the end of 0/6, Ambrose Barre of France wrote a book about the lung characteristics and sexual crimes of strangled babies; Fortnio Fetelli of Italy introduced his research results in determining whether the drowning person committed suicide or homicide. /kloc-In the 7th century, Paolo Chasia of Italy discussed the characteristics of homicide and suicide, sudden natural death, sexual crimes and insanity in his works. /kloc-in the 8th century, the Austrian Johann Franck published the book "Complete Medical Police System". /kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, Professor andrew duncan took the lead in setting up a course of forensic medicine at the University of Edinburgh in England. 1835, the book "Theory and Practice of Forensic Medicine" by French Marie de Villegel was published. 1850, the book Judicial Autopsy by German John Caspar was published. 1878, Frenchman Alexander Lacassin published the Collection of Forensic Medicine, and two years later he became the first professor of forensic medicine at the University of Lyon. He successfully identified the identity of a highly decomposed corpse in Courfey case, which provided strong evidence for the police to solve the case. This not only made him famous for a while, but also reversed the traditional prejudice of the public against forensic doctors. At the same time, Mathieu ophira, a professor of medical chemistry at the University of Paris, finally made the judges recognize the evidential value of the toxicology test conclusion through his own works and successful appraisal. (4)

Second, the autopsy.

Autopsy refers to a reconnaissance activity in which investigators assign or hire forensic doctors to examine or dissect corpses. The corpse inspection shall comply with the provisions of on-site inspection. "People's Republic of China (PRC) criminal evidence law expert draft (corpse inspection)" Article 75 "Inspection of corpses shall comply with the relevant regulations on the spot. For a corpse with unknown cause of death, the investigation organ has the right to decide to dissect it, and notify the family members of the deceased to be present and ask them to sign or seal the notice of autopsy. The absence of the deceased's family does not affect the inspection. If the family of the deceased cannot be notified because the identity of the body is unknown, it shall be indicated in the transcript. "

According to the provisions of Article 104 of the Criminal Procedure Law and Article 199 of the Regulations of the Ministry of Public Security, with the approval of the head of the public security organ at or above the county level, the corpse can be dissected or opened for examination, and the family members can be notified to be present. For unidentified bodies, if it is impossible to inform the families of the deceased, it shall be noted in the record. Autopsy should also pay attention to the customs and habits of local people. (2)

In the case examination, the object of examination is mainly the corpse, and sometimes we will encounter the examination and inspection of isolated organs and tissues and their audio-visual materials related to the corpse examination. (1) Autopsy is the most important object in forensic research. Its main purpose is to identify the cause of death, infer the time of death, determine the location, shape and degree of injury, distinguish between pre-existing injury and post-existing injury, as well as the time and ability of injury, infer the weapon that caused the injury, analyze the mode of crime, determine the nature of death (suicide, homicide, disaster), whether there are physical characteristics of poisoning and disease, and prove whether death involves law. (4)

(1) Forensic autopsy includes autopsy and autopsy.

The surface inspection of the corpse should include the inspection of clothes and their attachments, and the appearance inspection of the corpse should be carried out at or near the crime scene or in the autopsy room. The examination of the corpse table should check the clothing condition of the deceased in detail. First of all, pay attention to whether there is any attachment on the surface, and extract it for inspection if necessary. Pay attention to whether the buttons, belts and shoelaces are intact and knotted. Then, take off all your clothes for body surface examination, and take photos to keep the certificate. Naked after dressing and undressing, at least full-body photos of the abdomen and back should be taken. The external examination of the corpse mainly records the changes after death, the special position and morphological changes of the corpse, personal characteristics, attachments, blood marks and non-destructive injuries. The position and shape of body surface injuries should be compared with those on clothes. For example, if clothes are damaged, it is necessary to identify whether they are old or new, to find out whether the new damage corresponds to the damage on the corpse, and to carefully check the broken state of fiber breakage, so as to infer the injury. Body surface inspection should indicate the position of each damage on the printed body surface pattern and describe its shape with geometric figures. If there are multiple injuries, they should be numbered one by one, and the size, direction, type and degree of the injuries and related samples (blood, urine, stomach contents, etc.) should be explained in words according to the numbers. ) should be extracted. The appearance, pathological features, clothing, articles and packaging of the unknown corpse should be carefully examined and recorded in detail, and all fingerprints and palm prints should be printed.

The inspection of various parts of the corpse surface should follow the order of static before moving, from beginning to end, from front to back, comprehensive, systematic and step by step. The scope of examination includes head and face (including hair, scalp, skull, face, eyes, nose, ears and mouth); Neck; Chest and abdomen (including chest and abdomen); Lumbar back; Perineum and anus; Limbs.

Matters needing attention in surface inspection of corpse: 1. For some minor injuries that can't be clearly observed by the naked eye, you can use a magnifying glass to help observe them. 2, suspected subcutaneous hemorrhage site should be cut open for examination, so as to distinguish it from lividity. 3. Some injuries are not easy to observe in a short time after injury, but easier to observe after a period of time. 4. Pay attention to the inspection of hidden parts of the body surface. 5, gunshot wounds and stab wounds, only the appearance of the body inspection is incomplete, must be combined with the autopsy one by one complete inspection. 6. Special types of body surface injuries, such as dismembered bodies and dead bodies caused by explosion, can be tested according to the body mass inspection. At the same time, 7. Body surface injuries should be done in a way that does not affect the appearance of the body as far as possible. Spindle-shaped or diamond-shaped incisions can be used, and then sutured. 8, the body appearance inspection still need to pay attention to collect relevant material evidence. 9, the body appearance inspection can't solve the cause of death and other problems, must be a forensic autopsy. ( 1)

In any of the following circumstances, a forensic autopsy shall be conducted: involving criminal cases, corpses and nameless corpses that must be autopsied to determine the cause of death, and corpses that need to find out the cause and nature of death; Sudden or sudden death, suspected homicide or suicide; A corpse that died of industrial or agricultural poisoning or a serious infectious disease and involved legal issues.

Autopsy should be comprehensive and systematic, leaving enough samples for tissue section, poison analysis and bacteriological examination. Autopsy reports are generally issued to the entrusting unit within a certain period of time. (4)

(2) The functions of autopsy are as follows:

1, determine the cause of death. The cause of death refers to the specific violence or disease that leads to death. Violent death refers to the death caused by physical injury such as mechanical injury, mechanical suffocation and chemical injury, which often involves legal issues. If there are signs of crime, it is necessary to file a case for investigation. There are still some deaths that do not belong to homicide, but whether it is suicide or accident or disaster is easy to arouse suspicion and needs corresponding tests such as forensic autopsy to make it clear.

2. judge the way of death. The ways of death are homicide, suicide and accidental death. It is important to judge the way of death. Once misjudged, it may lead to misjudged cases.

3. Infer the time of death. Generally speaking, forensic doctors should make inferences about the time of death or the time elapsed after death according to on-site investigation and autopsy, which is of great help to investigators in analyzing the case, delineating the scope of investigation and judging whether the suspect committed a crime. There are many studies on the estimation of postmortem interval at home and abroad. Due to the influence of many factors inside and outside the human body, it is very difficult to accurately judge the time after death. In addition, there are still many problems in the practical application of some detection tools and methods currently used, and the estimation of the time after death is still a problem to be further studied and solved.

4. Infer the damage time.

5. Infer and identify the injury. Inference and identification of damage, first, according to the characteristics of damage forms, infer what damage is; The second is to further collect evidence to determine the injury. It is helpful to judge the mode of death and provide scientific basis for judicial organs. Farewell is a case in which many people use several kinds of injuries, and the inference and identification of injuries are more important, because determining the degree of injuries caused by different weapons involves legal conviction and sentencing.

6. The relationship between injury and disease. It involves not only legal proceedings and rulings of criminal responsibility, but also civil compensation, labor insurance benefits, iatrogenic injuries and the handling of medical disputes.

7. Personal identification. Find out the age, race, gender and name of the deceased, and then understand his whereabouts and social relations before his death. Infer race, sex, age, height, occupational characteristics and facial characteristics according to bones, teeth and hair, and determine the source of nameless bodies and dismembered bodies; This paper studies how to overlap the skull with the suspect's photo according to the appearance of the skull before death, and determine whether it is the same person.

8. Provide evidence for solving medical disputes. Identification of medical accident, criminal and civil liability in medical work. Distinguish medical accidents from medical errors and the responsibilities of medical personnel, help medical institutions improve quality and promote the development of medical science.

(three) matters that should be paid attention to in the corpse inspection are:

1, respect the dead. Autopsy must be serious; Respect the dead and try to ensure the integrity and cleanliness of the body.

2. The autopsy should be systematic and standardized. When examining a corpse, we should avoid carelessness and rough operation, be systematic and standardized, and don't artificially omit or destroy some evidence. To separate the internal organs, it is necessary to understand the relationship between them. Keep the original color of internal organs and try to avoid washing with water. To cut the internal organs, take the largest slice and cut it horizontally from left to right to avoid sawing on the same slice many times.

3. A high sense of self-protection. Especially for the deceased suspected of infectious diseases, more attention should be paid to autopsy, requiring gentle, clean and neat movements.

4. Preservation of the body. Generally, corpses are kept at room temperature for no more than 48 hours and frozen for no more than one week. If the freezing conditions are good, it can be stored for a longer time.

(4) The special types of corpse examination include: 1, nameless corpse examination. If it is a nameless corpse, it is necessary to find out the body surface characteristics of the deceased on the spot, as well as the color, style, brand, fabric, articles, documents, etc. 2, dismembered body inspection. 3, major disasters and accidents corpse inspection. 4. exhumation inspection. ( 1)

Third, on-site investigation

On-the-spot investigation is an important link in case technical investigation. The quality of on-site investigation is directly related to the success or failure of case detection, case characterization and criminal proceedings.

On-site investigation should follow the general principle: static observation first, then dynamic inspection. The corpse inquest at the scene of the murder case should generally be carried out after the trace inquest, so as not to destroy the traces left behind. At first, the on-site investigation was static observation, then it centered on the corpse and then extended to the surrounding area. At the same time, observe, record, draw and take photos, and record and video when necessary. Observe the position of the body and its relationship with the surrounding objects to see if there are any signs of moving the body; Observe body position, posture and clothes. If there is blood, hair, vomit or other attachments on the body surface, observe its shape, flow direction, dryness and special smell. And extract all kinds of physical evidence for inspection without changing the state of the body. ( 1)

Fourth, the phenomenon after death.

After death, the body is influenced by various internal and external factors such as physics, chemistry and biology, and various changes in the body are called postmortem changes. These changes make the surface and internal organs and tissues of the corpse show different signs from those of the living body, so it is also called postmortem phenomenon. Early postmortem changes refer to changes that occur within 24 hours after death; Changes that occur after 24 hours are called post-mortem changes. Early changes include biological overreaction, muscle relaxation, cortex, corneal opacity, corpse coldness, local dryness, rigor mortis, lividity, visceral congestion, corpse spasm, tissue autolysis and self-digestion. Late necropsy can be divided into destructive late necropsy and preserved corpse. The post-mortem changes of destructive types include corpse decay, corpse mildew, bone decay and the destruction of corpses by animals such as insects; The preserved bodies include mummified bodies, corpse wax and bodies tanned with peat. ( 1)

Verb (abbreviation of verb) death classification

Through the investigation and analysis of the corpse and the scene, the way of death can be preliminarily judged and classified. This involves the classification of death. Forensic medicine divides death into the following categories, which plays a guiding and simplifying role in reconnaissance and case analysis.

1, all kinds of mechanical asphyxia. Such as hanging, strangulation, strangulation, suffocation, chest and abdomen compression suffocation, foreign body obstruction, respiratory suffocation, drowning and so on.

2. Mechanical damage. Blunt objects, sharp weapons and firearms; All kinds of unarmed injuries, instrument injuries, falling injuries, vehicle injuries, bites, cuts, cuts, stab wounds, shear injuries, gunshot wounds, explosion injuries, pre-existing injuries and post-death injuries.

3. Injury and death caused by high temperature, low temperature, current or other physical factors. Such as burning, scalding, freezing, electric injury, lightning injury, burning (death) before death and burning after death.

4. Poisoning symptoms and pathological changes of various poisons.

5, sudden death and suicide, sudden death caused by homicide.

6. Physiological and pathological state of sexual function. Such as rape, indecency, sexual perversion, pregnancy and childbirth, fertilization time and pregnancy, abortion and infanticide.

7. homicide, suicide homicide in disguise, suicide in disguise. Such as self-harm, deception (pretending or exaggerating the illness), and artificial illness (or self-harm).

V. Records of corpse inspection

Autopsy record is a true record of what the autopsy personnel examined and extracted from the body. In China, autopsy is organized by investigators or judges, and forensic doctors must participate. Records of corpse inspection shall be made by forensic doctors who participate in corpse inspection. When investigating the scene of a corpse, the record of the corpse inspection shall be made separately by the forensic doctor. In the records of corpse inspection, in addition to recording the time and place of inspection, the names of personnel and witnesses who participated in the inspection, etc. The clothing condition of the deceased, the appearance of the corpse, the shape, size and position of the scar, the printing of fingerprints and palm prints, and the extraction of blood, urine and stomach contents should be recorded. For the nameless corpse, its appearance characteristics, physiological and pathological characteristics, carrying items and other characteristics should also be recorded. Autopsy records help to find out the cause of death, tools, means and methods, and time of death, and provide a basis for judging the nature of death and exposing and confirming crimes. (3)

Six, the problems existing in the autopsy

It has been more than 700 years since the publication of Song Ci "Collection of Injustice". Since then, forensic medicine has developed from a single discipline to a comprehensive multidisciplinary applied science, and its research methods and detection methods have become more modern. However, with the improvement of legal system, public security and judicial practice, new topics have been put forward for forensic medicine, and forensic medicine itself has many problems to be solved.

The main problems in this regard are: the technology to accurately and reliably determine the time of death and the time after injury; A simple, scientific and practical method to identify injuries before and after death; The relationship between death standard, organ transplantation and law; Legal and ethical issues, such as legal issues brought by modern reproductive technology (artificial insemination, IVF), human experiments, gender transformation and biomedicine; Reliable personal identification method, perfect gene and fingerprint identification technology; Mechanism and effective diagnosis of sudden death.

References:

(1) Forensic Pathology edited by Zhao People's Health Publishing House, 3rd edition, July, 2004.

(2) Expert Papers on Criminal Evidence Law in People's Republic of China (PRC), edited by Chen Guangzhong, China Legal Publishing House, 1, 2004.

(3) Evidence Law, edited by Fan Chongyi, Law Press, 2nd edition, February 2003.

(4) Exploration of evidence investigation methods Professor He Jiahong, Doctor of Law, Law School, Renmin University of China.