Mass Casualty Incidents: Death Investigations as Ritual

Abstract

To contribute to a large discourse surrounding death and death rituals, this paper aims to first situate forensic investigations as secular death rituals before answering the question if the category or scale of death fundamentally changes this ritual. Do we need different rituals for each kind of death? What about for mass casualty incidents (MCIs)? Using case studies from three categories of forensically investigated deaths—violence, accidents, and disease—on both the individual and massive scales, I argue that while the emphasis on certain aspects of the ritual changes, the essential pieces—a dedication to the restoration and maintenance of individual personhood, scientifically mediating death, and a focus on using information about death to prevent further losses of life, among others—remain constant across category and scale.