A Statistical Analysis on Forensic Autopsies Performed in Korea in 2015

Forensic medicine is the study of researching, analyzing, and solving medical factors that pose legal problems. Thus, forensic medicine is a social medicine that contributes to individual rights, social safety, and social welfare. In the Republic of Korea, the prosecutor maintains the rights for postmortem investigations and requests a confiscation warrant for autopsy after postmortem inspections if necessary [1]. When the court grants a confiscation warrant, most forensic autopsies in Korea are performed by the National Forensic Service. The statistical analysis of forensic autopsy data provides basic information for the postmortem investigation system and is the foundation of the statistical analysis of the cause of death. As previous analyses of forensic autopsies had limitations to regions [2-6], we studied nationwide statistical analysis on forensic autopsies performed in the Republic of Korea in 2015. Korean J Leg Med 2016;40:104-118 https://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2016.40.4.104