Death Notification for Families of Homicide Victims: Healing Dimensions of a Complex Process

Abstract

Family bereavement by homicide is one of the most challenging facets of crime victim intervention a medical care provider, mental health clinician, or law enforcement officer will face. But the process of healing can begin at the outset through intelligent, sensitive, competent, and compassionate death notification and body identification by trained and dedicated professionals. A practical system for death notification and body identification is presented that can be adapted and modified to the needs of law enforcement, military mental health, and notifiers from related disciplines; it can also be adapted to death notification in sudden, accidental deaths. Throughout, the emphasis is on how notifiers may often be the de facto first responders in the struggle to help traumatically bereaved family members survive their ordeal and reclaim their lives.