ABSTRACT
Forensic radiology (FR) started within months of Röntgen discovering “X-rays” (see Chapter 17). The term “forensic” is commonly thought to mean the application of scientific methods and techniques for the investigation of death, but it actually relates to courts of law. The scope of FR is therefore wider and may include clinical cases seen in imaging departments, such as road traffic collisions, non-accidental injury, drug smuggling (body packing), and assault. FR may also include imaging of inanimate objects, such as art or jewelry in suspected fraud. However, this article is mainly concerned with the investigation of death, to answer not only “how” and by “what means” the person died, but the other key questions of “who” they were and “when” they died.
