In this report, the National Science and Technology Council's Fast-Track Action Committee on Strengthening the Medicolegal-Death-Investigation System (FTAC-SMDIS) presents recommendations for appropriate federal departments and agencies on how to address issues related to accessing and working with data produced by medical examiners and coroners (ME/C).
Overall, the recommendations suggest a role for the federal government in enhancing medicolegal-death investigation (MDI) data infrastructure and quality, as well as system capacity. This involves improvement in the coordination among appropriate federal departments and agencies in providing support to ME/C offices. These policy recommendations will strengthen medicolegal death investigations, improve the integrity of the criminal justice and public health systems, and further medical research. The appendix provides a table of federal agency programs that use and rely on the data generated by the MDI system as an important input that assists in furthering their missions.