Summary
Little is known about human decomposition and the variables which affect it in Canada. This study involves the retrospective analysis of 358 police death investigations from across Canada. Cases with reliable data were selected using the Canadian ViCLAS (Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System) database. A total of 36 environmental, immediate context, intrinsic and geographic variables were examined for each case. A classification system was designed based on biological processes of decomposition and a method developed to assign a relative value to each case (Relative Level of Decomposition Value). ... The variability within baseline decomposition, between scene types and geographical locations precludes the estimations of accurate or forensically practical PMI estimations in Canada. The understanding of decomposition could be used to determine the original context of found remains and predict the extent and type of decomposition given a set of known variables, for search and recovery strategies.