Department of Legal Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Japan.
Department of Legal Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan.
Med Sci Law. 2020 Jul;60(3):216-222. doi: 10.1177/0025802420916590. Epub 2020 Apr 16.
The autopsy rate in Japan is lower than that in other countries, and most death investigations have historically been conducted by police officers through external inspection. Although medicolegal autopsy was not performed during the samurai administration, the European death investigation system was adopted in the second half of the 19th century and judicial autopsy began in universities' forensic medicine departments. After World War II, the medical examiner system was introduced under US influence, but it was only adopted in certain areas. Further reforms were introduced in the 21st century-in 2012, two laws relating to death investigation were enacted: , which provided foundational principles and included measures for investigating the causes of death and identification of bodies, and the , which recommended a procedure for death investigation, including a new autopsy system.The was to meant to be decided by the government in 2014. However, the relevant Act expired after it ran out of time. Later, in 2019, the , the successor to the Promotion Act, was passed. This Act is significant because it sets the basic foundational principle and imposes plans created by the government. However, it remains unclear how these measures can be implemented, so further discussion and financial investment are now required.
日本的尸检率低于其他国家，历史上大多数死亡调查都是由警察通过外部检查进行的。尽管在武士统治时期没有进行法医解剖，但在 19 世纪下半叶采用了欧洲的死亡调查系统，并在大学法医学系开始进行司法解剖。第二次世界大战后，在美国的影响下引入了法医检查官制度，但仅在某些地区采用。21 世纪进一步进行了改革——2012 年颁布了两项与死亡调查有关的法律：《死因调查和尸体身份识别基本法》，其中规定了死因调查的基本原则和措施，以及《死因调查法》，其中建议了一种死亡调查程序，包括新的尸检系统。《死因调查法》原本计划在 2014 年由政府决定，但由于时间不足，相关法案已经过期。后来，2019 年，《死因调查促进法》（简称《死因法》），即该法案的继任者通过。该法案意义重大，因为它确立了基本的基本原则，并规定了政府制定的计划。然而，这些措施如何实施仍不清楚，因此现在需要进一步讨论和资金投入。
