Towards a standard of scientific evidence in on-site inspection: compilation of the ECLM on-site inspection form in a broad case history
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The European Council of Legal Medicine (ECLM) on-site inspection form allows the collection of data relevant to the identification, collection, sampling and preservation of all elements that, during the on-site inspection, may be useful as forensic evidence. The aim of this study is to assess the completeness of the information collected in a large number of on-site inspections, the records of which were drawn up without the use of the ECLM on-site inspection form, in order to verify the usefulness and the application of this form. The authors present a multicentre study involving 20 Italian forensic medicine institutes. For each institute, the reports of on-site inspections carried out without the use of the ECLM on-site inspection form were collected and a forensic pathologist was asked to analyse the individual cases and to identify, for each case, the presence or absence of information regarding all the points examined by the ECLM on-site inspection form. A practical database was prepared and sent to each institute for this analysis. Data were collected and analysed from a total of 1721 on-site inspection reports. Our results document that certain items on the ECLM on-site inspection form are not always investigated in reports written without the use of this tool. The use of the ECLM on-site inspection form proves to be a valid tool to assist the forensic pathologist during the on-site inspection. We therefore hope that the forms developed by the ECLM will be systematically adopted in the forensic practice of the forensic pathologist.
Source: Legal Medicine
Authors: Jessika Camatti, Anna Laura Santunione, Monica Bolognini, Denis Cusack, Stefania Zerbo, Antonina Argo, Maria Puntarello, Giovanni Scalzo, Fattorini Paolo, Tommaso Bruscagin, Lorenzo Desinan, Laura Battistig, Fabrizio Tosku, Guido Viel, Giorgia Franchetti, Biagio Solarino, Laura Ambrosi, Giovanni Cecchetto, Silvia Damiana Visonà, Emanuele Sala, Antonio Oliva, Giulia Mercuri, Elena Sofia Oliveri, Paolo Fais, Sara Lippi, Simone Bianchini, Umberto Genovese, Lorenzo Franceschetti, Alessio Asmundo, Elvira Ventura Spagnolo, Giorgia Burrascano, Andrea Verzeletti, Federica Attico, Valentino Sarallo, Isabella Aquila, Matteo Antonio Sacco, Saverio Gualtieri, Giuseppe Mammola, Alessia Attanasi, Davide Mario Pingaro, Vilma Pinchi, Martina Focardi, Francesco Ventura, Isabella Caristo, Nicolò Vernazza, Claudia Casella, Gaetano Di Donna, Mariagrazia Marisei, Carlo Pietro Campobasso, Alessandro Feola, Paolo Palermo, Valentina Bugelli, Kiti Doci, Mario Picozzi, Matteo Burlando, Federico Vecchio, Mario Gabbrielli, Francesco Baldari, Rossana Cecchi
Institutions: University of Parma, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, University College Dublin, University of Palermo, University of Trieste, University of Udine, University of Padua, University of Bari Aldo Moro, University of Pavia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, University of Bologna, University of Milan, University of Messina, University of Brescia, Magna Graecia University, University of Florence, University of Genoa, University of Naples Federico II, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", University of Insubria, University of Siena
Language: English
Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,540
OpenAlex ID: W4414418171