Survey of Toxicology Testing Practices for a Violent Death Surveillance System

• NCJ Number: 223806
• Journal: Homicide Studies Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2008 Pages: 277-284
• Author(s): Gitte Y. Larsen; Catherine Barber; David Kosegarten; Lenora M. Olson
• Date Published: August 2008
• Length: 8 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Joyce Foundation; David and Lucile Packard Foundation; John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Annie E. Casey Foundation; Ctr on Crime, Communities and Culture; Atlantic Philanthropies
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article explores the comparability of postmortem forensic toxicologic testing across jurisdictions.

Abstract

With few exceptions, all sites tested for the same substances but did not use the same methodology. The limit of detection thresholds for drugs of abuse and psychoactive medications varied up to 30-fold, limiting the comparability of cross-jurisdictional toxicologic data. To explore the comparability of postmortem forensic toxicologic testing across jurisdictions, a survey was administered to 11 laboratories serving pilot sites for a violent death reporting system in different States. Data for this study were obtained by survey in 2003 through the voluntary participation of National Violent Injury Statistics Systems (NVISS) sites and the forensic toxicology laboratories serving their jurisdictions. The survey documented the laboratories’ ability to detect 14 categories of drugs, the screening and confirmatory threshold limits used for each, and the specific screening and confirmatory tests used. Tables, references