Causes of Death in the Presence of Law Enforcement in Johnson County, Iowa, 2011-2020

To examine sudden and unexpected or trauma-related deaths that occurred in the presence of law enforcement in Johnson County, Iowa, between 2011 and 2020. We identified deaths in the presence of law enforcement using definitions from the National Association of Medical Examiners. We obtained data, i...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 114; no. 6; pp. 642 - 650
Main Authors:	Rempel, Anne M L, Persons, Jane E, Bengtson, Kate, Nashelsky, Marcus B
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States American Public Health Association 01-06-2024
Subjects:	Adolescent Adult Aged Autopsies Cause of Death Child Child, Preschool Coroners Coroners and Medical Examiners Correctional institutions Correctional personnel Criminal investigations Death Death & dying Demographics Disease Fatalities Female Humans Iowa - epidemiology Jurisdiction Law Enforcement Male Medical examiners Medical personnel Middle Aged Mortality Professionals Public health Racial identity Suicide Suicide - statistics & numerical data Toxicology Trauma Young Adult Iowa United States > US
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	To examine sudden and unexpected or trauma-related deaths that occurred in the presence of law enforcement in Johnson County, Iowa, between 2011 and 2020. We identified deaths in the presence of law enforcement using definitions from the National Association of Medical Examiners. We obtained data, including demographics, cause and manner of death, toxicology results, and circumstances and location of event leading to death, from comprehensive medical examiner investigative reports. There were 165 deaths that occurred in the presence of law enforcement: 114 were from a known disease, and 51 were either trauma related or the sudden, unexpected initial presentation of a previously unrecognized disease. Three deaths occurred in the context of physical restraint by law enforcement. Suicide was the leading manner of death among trauma-related deaths; the means of suicide was predictable based on in-custody (hanging) or precustody (firearm) circumstances. Our findings highlight the potential role of medical examiners and coroners in improving completeness of data on reporting death in the presence of law enforcement to public health agencies. ( . 2024;114(6):642-650. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307616).
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0090-0036 1541-0048 1541-0048
DOI:	10.2105/AJPH.2024.307616