THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE
Policy and Global Affairs
Committee on Science, Technology, and Law
Committee on Advancing the Field of Forensic Pathology:
Lessons Learned from Death in Custody Investigations
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Congressional Briefings
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 – 1:30 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
via Zoom
and
Thursday, October 30, 2025 – 1:30 p.m.
394 Ford House Office Bldg.
on
Strengthening the U.S. Medicolegal Death Investigation System:
Lessons from Deaths in Custody
The U.S. medicolegal death investigation system is responsible for investigating and providing determinations of cause and manner of death, playing a vital role in the nation's public health and criminal justice systems. Recent, high-profile deaths in custody cases have drawn widespread attention to the determinations of cause and manner of death made by forensic pathologists, medical examiners, and coroners, and questions have been raised about the scientific validity of such determinations.
This new report, from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, evaluates the handling of deaths in police custody by the medicolegal death investigation system and recommends actions to strengthen the nation's medicolegal death investigation system.
These briefings were for members of Congress and congressional staff only. The report was publicly released on October 30, 2025 and can be found, in its entirety, on the Web site of the National Academies Press.