| 81 |
We
are considering whether it is necessary to hold
public inquests on the scale that now occurs,
or whether it is necessary routinely to hold public
inquests into all the categories of death which
in England and Wales are usually inquested. |
| 82 |
We
consider that there should be a strong presumption
in favour of
public inquests into all deaths of prisoners,
people compulsorily detained under Mental Health
Act powers, and at the hands of the law and order
services. It is not so clear that deaths in some
other categories should automatically be investigated
in formal public inquests. |
| 83 |
We
particularly have in mind cases in which people
take their own lives, deaths on the road, deaths
from occupational disease and
accidents at work. These are all categories of
deaths which some
coroners have themselves mentioned when asked
if there were some
inquests which they think less useful than others,
or less suitable for
automatic formal judicial investigation in public. |
| 84 |
A
public inquest into deaths by own hand is not
routine in Northern
Ireland but at the discretion of the coroner.
They are not automatically investigated in public
in any other jurisdiction we have so far heard
of. There can undoubtedly be cases in which there
is a public interest to ascertain the circumstances
in public, or a very strongly grounded family
interest for doing so. In such cases it would
be right to hold public inquests. In others, the
circumstances of death could be settled administratively
in private, without publicity and with respect
for family privacy, but with the discretion to
move to a public inquest, or apply to do so, if
circumstances as they emerged appeared to warrant
a change of approach. |
| 85 |
It is important to families, and a matter of wider
public interest, that
occupational disease deaths should be fairly and
properly identified. It has been put to us that
this can be done satisfactorily without a public
judicial investigation but with full participation
rights for the family and others with an interest,
and the safeguard of moving to public process
if warranted. |
| 86 |
Traffic
deaths are invariably investigated by the police
and may be
considered also by the police and the Crown Prosecution
Service for
criminal proceedings. Accidents at work are investigated
by the Health and Safety Executive and in some
cases considered for prosecution by them or the
police. There may also be civil proceedings for
damages. |
| 87 |
The issue is not whether deaths in these categories
should always or
never be the subject of a public inquest. It is
whether there should be the discretion to weigh
issues of need and benefit along with the wishes
of the family, and then decide how full an investigation
should be and whether it should be in public. |
| 88 |
Some possible criteria might be;-
| 1 |
Significant
uncertainty about the circumstances or cause
of the
death. |
| 2 |
Sufficient
uncertainty or conflict of evidence to justify
the use of
public judicial process. |
| 3 |
The
apparent degree of public interest, from
the perspective of
uncovering systems defects or general dangers
not already known about; or in the particular
circumstances of the case. |
| 4 |
The
wishes of the family, whether for privacy
or public
investigation, and of other relevant interests |
| 5 |
The
availability or otherwise of other investigative
process, the
degree of openness and independence of such
processes, and
their accessibility to the family; and the
overall suitability of the
alternative process as a means of investigating
sufficiently the
cause and circumstances of a particular
death. |
|
| 89 |
An approach on these lines might have an evolving
effect over time on the character of, and public
confidence in, some of the processes used in public
services to investigate complaints or alleged
incompetence. |
| 90 |
It would be important in revised statutory provision
for the investigation of deaths to provide explicitly
for the proper handling of death investigation
administratively, as well as by public inquest.
The present law contains little or no explicit
provision for how coroners should handle cases
where there are no inquests. A new statute should
define the processes by which cases would be chosen
and dealt with administratively, the rights of
the family and others with an interest to propose,
or oppose, an administrative investigation; the
rights of attendance and/or representation; and
the rights to propose or oppose proceeding to
a public hearing. |
