LAW2 DDL ASSESSMENT TASK 3 Critically discuss to what extent coroners investigations are 'pro-therapeutic' in relation to intimate-partner violence. Lorraine Meades 85000823 Word Count - 2,352
" An inquest is a fact-finding investigation and not a method of apportioning guilt. The procedure and rules of evidence which are suitable for one are unsuitable for the other. In an inquest, it should never be forgotten that there are no parties, there is no indictment, there is no prosecution, there is no defence, there is no trial - simply an attempt to establish facts". Late Lord Justice of England and Wales, Lord Lane.1 "The motto of the Coroner's Court is to speak for the dead to protect the living. People dealing with death and loss in their work must allow emotion to touch them. Being custodian of bodies has made me softer. I think it has made me more receptive to my fellow human beings ..... the sadness still hits me". Graeme Johnstone, State Coroner, Victoria2 Death is the only absolute in life. But how it happens and the circumstances surrounding the death determine how people respond, grieve and adapt. An accidental or violent death can dramatically interfere with the grieving process. Often these deaths create media interest taking the death from the realm of the private into the public domain adding to the stress of the bereaved. Helping grieving significant others establish how the person died and why is managed by the Coroner. It is the Coroner's job to make sense from often senseless deaths; to help the living find answers so they can concentrate on grieving. The Coroner also has a public health role to learn from the deaths; to formulate strategies to understand and manage social risk and minimize the potential for lethal outcomes, such as in intimate partner violence. It is no longer helpful or an answer, as it was one hundred and thirty years ago, to announce the cause of death was 'Ex visitation divina' (visitation 1 R v South London Coroner ex parte Thompson (1982) 126 55 Lord Lane CJ [625]. 2 Graeme Johnstone quoted in Staff Writers 'The Coroner's bodies' The Age (Melbourne) 15 October 2005, 9. <www.theage.com.au/national/the-coroners-bodies-20051015-ge123m.html>
by God).3 Coroners courts have evolved to become, in Victoria, pro- therapeutic drawing on the principles of the therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) approach in the administration, processes and recommendations of coronial investigations. This essay will firstly explore how this evolution has occurred with an historical overview. It will then discuss how a pro-therapeutic approach is a vital competent in helping the living move forward and fulfilling the mandatory roles of the coroner's court. Incorporating TJ values and principles enhances the pro-therapeutic consequences of investigating death and lessens the adverse consequences. It enables investigations to be considered in an empathetic, respectful, compassionate way that enhances the public health role of preventing death; identifying the things that kill people and help ensure that the knowledge gained helps prevent any more deaths.4 Finally, this essay will discuss the extent that Coroners