X-Message-Number: 46 From arpa!Xerox.COM!merkle.pa Fri Dec 16 15:18:53 PST 1988 Received: from Cabernet.ms by ArpaGateway.ms ; 16 DEC 88 15:18:42 PST Date: Fri, 16 Dec 88 15:18:53 PST From: Subject: Coroners in the Wall Street Journal (CRYONICS) To: Message-ID: <> Status: R The Wall Street Journal (Friday, December 16, 1988, the front page, left hand column) had an article titled "Deadly Job: Local Coroners' Lack of Forensic Training Raises Issues of Fitness", then below that, "Low Pay and Small Budgets Help Compound Problem of Botched Murder Cases". Some random quotes from the article: "Coroners and medical examiners play a critical role in criminal cases and insurance proceedings, but they frequently lack training in forensics -- the scientific investigation of crime." "Although individual coroners such as Thomas Noguchi of Los Angeles and the late Milton Helpern of New York City have had reputations as outstanding forensic pathologists, county coroners are usually elected officials without specific training in the field. They have backgrounds as anything from auto mechanics to ear, nose and throat specialists. They are often poorly paid part-timers." The article goes on to give specific examples of improperly trained coroners who either (a) allowed a murderer to go free or (b) caused an innocent person to be locked up by mishandling the case. Typically, the coroner would destroy or misinterpret evidence that was critical to properly solving a crime. The Riverside coroner was not among their examples. [ The Coroner of Riverside County, California is an elected official and, as for the competence of the people in his office, the article "Keystone Coroners" in the Oct. 1988 issue of Cryonics provides some important insight. I will post a summary of that article in a few days. - Kevin Q. Brown ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=46