CORONIAL INVESTIGATIONS: Past Deaths and Future Lives

This chapter considers the interaction between law and death in the context of coroners’ investigations in England and Wales. Coroners are independent judicial office holders with responsibility for investigating deaths that were violent or unnatural, occurred in any form of state detention, or are of unknown cause. Where deemed necessary by the coroner, an investigation culminates in an inquest: a public court hearing at which the coroner (occasionally sitting with a jury) hears written and/or oral evidence to determine the facts of the death. The inquest addresses four key questions: who died, how they died, when they died, and where the death occurred. The role of the coroner is ancient - having originated in the twelfth century - but evolving. In this chapter, we argue that the past two to three decades have seen a shift in the focus of coronial investigations from past to future. This shift towards a future orientation is manifest most clearly in the growing emphasis placed on the coroner’s responsibility - a statutory duty under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 - to report on actions that should be taken to avert the risk of further deaths in similar circumstances, where there are concerns about such risk. In other words, there is an expectation that the coronial investigation should ultimately help to save lives. Concern with the future is also implicit in policy and practice discourse, which places a high value on responsiveness to bereaved people’s needs and thus suggests an ambition to help reclaim lives scarred by loss.