A Synoptic Review of the 1932 National Research Council Bulletin, “Possibilities and Need for Development of Legal Medicine in the United States”

Abstract

In 1932, the National Research Council (NRC) published a Bulletin titled “Possibilities and Need for Development of Legal Medicine in the United States.” This article is a synopsis of the major points made in the 1932 Bulletin. The 135-page Bulletin was prepared for the National Research Council Committee on Medicolegal Problems by Oscar T Schultz MD, who was the Director of Laboratories at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Illinois. Chapters cover “Medical Science and the Law,” the “Need for the Organization of Institutes of Legal Medicine in the United States,” “Suggested Organization of an Institute of Legal Medicine,” “The State University and Legal Medicine,” “The Present and Future Development of Legal Medicine in the United States,” “Science and the Prevention of Crime,” “The Outlook for the Future,” a “Summary,” and three ancillary chapters. It was envisioned that institutes of legal medicine could parallel those in Europe and would be university affiliated, active and not theoretical, produce publications, and have renowned leaders and laboratory services such as bacteriology, immunology, chemistry, toxicology, and microscopy. They would also provide services on living people who were injured, and would do psychiatric assessments and evaluate witnesses and suspects. In short, the institutes would have services that met the needs of the criminal justice system. Eighty-two years following publication of the 1932 Bulletin, the institutes of legal medicine envisioned in the Bulletin have not come to fruition. Several institutes emerged since 1932 but have failed or are no longer formal institutes with multidisciplinary participants.