Judicial autopsies are performed by doctors on a special list, based on training and competence. The adversarial court system allows the prosecutor, defendant, and victim's family to appoint a forensic pathologist as a consultant to testify in court. Nonjudicial autopsies, carried out under the auspices of the National Health Service, are usually performed by forensic pathologists in large urban areas. A survey made of Italian autopsies showed that too much time lapses before a judicial autopsy is done, resulting in decomposition and autolysis, loss of details and diagnostic accuracy, and impaired laboratory results. 7 references