Victim Family Liaison
Definition
The structured process of maintaining communication between an investigation team and the relatives of victims or missing persons. Effective liaison involves both information-sharing and emotional support, and is increasingly recognised as a core component of a responsible forensic investigation.
- Core function
- Structured communication channel between investigators and relatives
- Two elements
- Information-sharing and emotional support
- Recognition
- Increasingly seen as a core ethical duty in investigations
- Formal role example
- UK Family Liaison Officer
Common questions
Why is family liaison treated as more than a courtesy?+
Poorly handled or withheld communication with victims' families can retraumatise them and erode public trust in the investigation, and in some jurisdictions structured liaison is a recognised part of victims' rights obligations.
Does liaison work risk compromising investigative objectivity?+
It can if handled carelessly, which is why liaison officers are typically kept separate from the core evidence-gathering team, so emotional support to the family does not create a conflict of interest with the case.
Related terms
- Ante-Mortem Data (AMD)
- Information gathered from families and other sources about a missing person before their remains are identified: physical descriptions, medical and dental records,...
- Dignity of Remains
- The ethical principle that human remains should be handled with care and respect regardless of the circumstances of death or the condition...
- ICRC
- The International Committee of the Red Cross, an independent humanitarian organisation that has developed widely referenced guidelines on the handling of the...
- Repatriation
- The return of human remains, or cultural objects associated with those remains, to the country, community, or family from which they originate....
- Secondary Context
- A location where remains have been deposited after being moved from the primary deposition site. Non-disturbance of secondary contexts means not excavating...