Forensic Institutional Practice in Central America and Panama

Abstract

Some aspects of the institutional practice of legal and forensic medicine in Central America and Panama, its development, organization, functions, differences, and affinities, by country, are presented. In this region, where violence is endemic, medical expert activities have evolved with the creation of official institutions of forensic services that are attempting to establish institutional models with international standards, which aim to provide answers to the growing demands of the administration of justice.

In almost all countries, with serious social, political, and economic problems, the institutional development is limited by the insufficient allocation of the budgetary resources needed for efficient functioning, which restricts the institutional growth, forensic specific vocational training, research, acquisition, and application of modern technologies.