Customised Advice and Opinions
Tailored to your specific needs so you get the exact information you need to advance your case.
Lucid Legal Medicine
Complex Made Clear
Proactive Medico-legal Education that Changes Behaviour and Saves Lives
Deter perpetrators from offending
Protect victims before it’s too late
Provide risk mitigation to your organisation
The education sessions you wish you had with your students and staff before they swallowed the pill, took the drink, threw the punch, or worse.
Lucid Legal Medicine provides proactive education programs, active deterrents based on practical medicine and forensic science, instructing your students and staff on the consequences of crime and risk taking behaviour including:
- Sexual Assault
- Drug facilitated crime (eg. Drink Spiking)
- Alcohol And Drug Use
- Interpersonal Violence
- Youth offending
- Active consent
Australia, we have an (urgent and growing) problem
Known around the world as ‘the lucky country’, sadly many Australians don’t feel very lucky. Because an alarmingly high number have been victims of serious crimes including drink spiking, violence, and sexual assault.
Deterrent Theory
At the time of sentencing a person for a crime, a judge must turn their mind to how a punishment may act as a general and specific deterrent to future offending. The difficulty is that the general deterrence is something that has to be broadcast to be effective. By presenting the process of police arrest, the collection of intimate evidence, the court process, the impact of accusation, the effect of imprisonment and the profound statements of victims, the intent is to educate people before they offend, such that people have in their front of mind the consequences of their actions.
Sexual Assault
Almost 2 million Australian adults have experienced at least 1 sexual assault since the age of 15. The highest incidence is among 18-24-year-olds where 12.4% have suffered sexual violence in the last 2 years. Incidents of sexual violence increased 30% between 2010 and 2018. Males aged 15-19 had the highest offender rates of any age group. Over half (57%) of guilty offenders spend time in jail.
Drink Spiking
Drink spiking incidents increased by 20% from July 2022 to June 2023 with Ethanol being the most common agent. The perpetrator is often known to the victim (mostly a casual acquaintance), but is sometimes a stranger or even a bartender.
Alarmingly, 28% of suspected spiking victims also had illicit drugs in their systems. And the mean number of drinks consumed by suspected victims was a staggering 7.7. Tragically, one third of drink spiking incidents can also lead to sexual assault. The first sign of this is not memory (because recollection is often sketchy) but bruising (finger marks and scratches) that appear on victims’ bodies in the days after the spiking and subsequent assault.
One/Coward Punch
More than 170 Australians have died in one punch incidents since 2000. Many more have been victims of this cowardly act. And although they have survived, half have not returned to work after 2 years, one in three will need assistance with basic daily tasks, and two in three suffer ongoing psychological problems including depression and anxiety. A moment of ‘madness’ has lifelong (sometimes life-ending) consequences for both the victims and perpetrators (many of whom spend years in prison).
How we help you protect your students and staff from the life-changing (life-ending) consequences of common crimes
Unlike TV, online, and other education programs that are largely theoretical and passive (allowing participants to merely watch information they think applies to other people and not them), we use practical medicine and forensic science to put your students and staff in the box seat, helping them:
- Recognise the micro steps that lead to risky behaviours or situation
- Develop a toolbox of escape strategies to avoid situations before it’s too late
- Fully appreciate the real impacts and consequences of certain behaviours (instead of the fictional reality they see in the media)
And while counselling and social work focuses on recovery from problems that have already happened, our programs get ahead of the problems by helping to prevent the behaviour that causes them.
In short, we bring CSI to your school, university, or workplace to sharpen your students’ and staff’s thinking, change their behaviour, and literally save their lives.
Why other legal professionals choose
Lucid Legal Medicine for expert opinions and court reports
The right peer reviewed medico-legal reports – provided in a timely manner and with ongoing support – can be the key to success. However, without this expert information and advice, legal professionals often struggle to make their case.
Here are just some of the things we do differently to help legal professionals:
Fast Turnaround
Getting timely information and opinions (especially when many hospital doctors are reluctant to cooperate) can be challenging. And delays jeopardise cases. Our proven processes ensure you receive the reports and opinions you need – accurately and efficiently.
Authoritative and Influential
Many medico-legal reports provide inadequate arguments that can easily be undermined. Our comprehensive, peer reviewed reports carry authority that is influential in winning more cases.
Clear, Jargon-Free Language
You don’t have the time to wade through complicated technical reports written to impress out of touch academics. Our expert team breaks down the data into a quick-read, easy-to-understand report that gives you the information you need – fast.
Court Ready
Our peer reviewed statements meet the ‘Expert Code Of Conduct’ and all legislative requirements for the court process. We are experienced in providing in-person, video or telephone evidence.
Strategic Support to Maximise the Impact of Your Data
While other medico-legal experts may give you the data you ask for, we help you interpret the data to best understand and present your case.
Questions that Advance
Your Case
Part of putting your best case forward is finding the weaknesses in the legal arguments. We help you refine questions that expose weaknesses in opposing opinion and bring focus to the elements of the matter.
Holistic Assessment Maximises Legal Options
Our diverse team has the skills and experience to examine the whole picture (immediate and proximate context) and provide holistic reporting, so you have more options and chances for success. We will identify relevant experts required that may be targeted with specific questions, saving you time and money and improving outcomes.
Frontline Clinical Expertise
Our team of clinicians have post graduate qualifications and medical experience in toxicology, forensics, custodial and legal medicine. Laboratory scientists focus on analysis more than effects, while pathologists focus on the cause of death rather than the pathway to death. This is a point of difference from our service.
Decades Of Collaborative Experience
Our advice and reports have been of value in thousands of criminal and coronial cases over the past 17 years, a collaborative medical experience of 96 years, with 40 years in the forensic sphere.
More reasons to choose
Lucid Legal Medicine
We have extensive formal training and experience
We are medical professionals and forensic experts with extensive knowledge and experience in medico-legal matters. We have provided reports in thousands of criminal and coronial cases.
We provide a rapid response that is immediately useful
We understand you are busy, and that you need a result or outcome as quickly as possible. We will incorporate this into our delivery process and will provide you with a realistic timeframe during our first consultation.
We analyse the bigger picture, from both a medical and legal perspective
Our approach combines medical expertise, legal acumen, and a commitment to present the most comprehensive assessment possible. This integrated strategy enables us to provide keen practical judgment and unique insights to maximise clarity of case presentation and inform decision-making.
We are versatile clinicians, not single-discipline laboratory scientists
Medical matters and toxicology reports are best explained by clinicians with decades of experience in forensic and clinical medicine. We have extensive experience in the clinical space, within diverse locations such as emergency departments, general practice, intensive care and even watch houses. This broad experience means you get a comprehensive report giving you the best possible outcome.
We are broadly-experienced physicians, not pathologists
Most medico-legal opinions require an analysis of effects on a living human body, not a deceased one. The focus of many legal questions relate to when a person was alive, such as the effects of a drug or of their clinical care. We use our broad experience as clinicians to provide a relevant and prospective clinical opinion particularly for coronial matters.
Our solutions are customised to your desired outcome, and backed by research literature
We understand that each case is unique, and we tailor our services to meet the specific requirements of our clients. This personalised approach ensures that we address the individual needs and concerns of each case effectively. We also use peer-reviewed literature and other research resources to provide weight to our formal opinions and services.