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# The Minnesota Protocol: investigating potentially unlawful deaths

- Procedure

A United Nations manual on how to investigate a death the State may have caused or that occurred in its custody: promptly, thoroughly, independently and openly.

Updated Nov 13, 2026

## Key points

- It applies to deaths possibly caused by the State, deaths in custody and deaths where the State failed to protect life.
- The investigation must be prompt, effective and thorough, independent and impartial, and transparent.
- A decision not to perform an autopsy must be justified in writing and be open to judicial review.
- The report must let another expert, at another time, reach their own conclusions: positive and negative findings, and photographs with a scale.
- Families have the right to take part, to be informed and to receive the remains.

## What it is

The Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016) is the revision of the 1991 United Nations manual, published in 2017 by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. It applies when the death may have been caused by State agents or be attributable to the State, when it occurred in custody, or when the State may have failed to protect life from foreseeable threats; it also applies to enforced disappearance. It sets four requirements for every investigation (prompt, effective and thorough, independent and impartial, and transparent), recognises the rights of families and gives detailed guidelines for the scene, interviews, the autopsy and the analysis of skeletal remains. It complements the Istanbul Protocol, which documents torture in the living.

## What to document

- Date, start and finish times and place of the autopsy, with the name and role of everyone present.
- Good-quality serial photographs, distant and close-up, with a reference scale and the case number.
- Every injury, old and recent: site, size, shape, colour, direction and depth.
- An opinion on how each injury was caused and whether it is due to external trauma, treatment or postmortem change.
- An opinion on the overall pattern of injuries, the cause of death in sequence and the manner of death.
- If the cause remains unknown after all tests, write «unascertained», never a mode of dying such as «cardiorespiratory arrest».

## How it is done

- Report without delay to a judicial authority independent of whoever held the person or may have caused the death.
- Secure the scene, log who enters and document with photographs, measurements and notes before moving the body.
- Identify the victim and collect physical, documentary and testimonial evidence under chain of custody.
- Take whole-body radiographs or CT before the autopsy, if available.
- Photograph the body clothed and unclothed, examine and keep the clothing, and swab the hands if firearms were involved.
- Perform a full autopsy, with layer-by-layer dissection of the back, limbs and joints to look for deep injuries.
- Examine the neck last, once blood has drained from the area, to avoid creating artefactual bruises.
- Agree with the investigator which samples are kept, and preserve the body for a possible second autopsy.
- Write the report with the findings, the interpretation of each injury and a reasoned cause and manner of death.

## Next step: what to do and document

- If you suspect a potentially unlawful death, inform the Fiscalía and record in writing the time and whom you informed.
- Document your findings objectively, separating what you observed from what you were told, and do not accept pressure from those who held the person.
- If you perform the autopsy as a doctor in compulsory social service, follow the Protocol's standard as far as your resources allow and ask the National Institute of Legal Medicine for support when the case exceeds them.
- Treat the family with respect: explain the procedure, their rights and when they can receive the body.
- In Colombia, chain of custody starts with the authority that removes the body and ends with the judge, and the doctor in compulsory social service may perform the medico-legal autopsy (Decree 786 of 1990, arts. 9 and 10).
- Official text checked on 2026-11-13 at funcionpublica.gov.co.

## Common mistakes

- Letting the custodians or the institution involved attend or direct the autopsy.
- Skipping layer-by-layer dissection and concluding there was no violence because the skin is intact.
- Writing «cardiorespiratory arrest» as the cause of death.
- Releasing or cremating the body before deciding whether a second autopsy is needed.

## Test yourself

Think of the answer, then tap the question to see it.

## What four requirements does the Minnesota Protocol set for investigating a potentially unlawful death?

It must be prompt, effective and thorough, independent and impartial, and transparent.

## Why is the neck examined last at the autopsy of a potentially unlawful death?

Because once the blood has drained from the area there is less risk of creating artefactual bruises during dissection.

## What does the Protocol require if it is decided not to perform an autopsy?

That the decision be justified in writing and be open to judicial review.

## Which United Nations protocol complements the Minnesota Protocol for documenting torture in the living?

The Istanbul Protocol.

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## Elsewhere in DurgiPedia

- [The autopsy: clinical and medicolegal](https://durgical.com/en/general-pathology/the-autopsy-clinical-and-medicolegal/)

## Connections

## Related 6

- [Deaths in custody and during restraint](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/deaths-in-custody-and-during-restraint/)
- [Examining detainees and documenting torture (Istanbul Protocol)](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/examining-detainees-and-documenting-torture/)
- [The death scene: inspección técnica a cadáver (levantamiento)](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/the-death-scene-inspeccion-tecnica-a-cadaver/)
- [The medico-legal autopsy: when it is mandatory in Colombia](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/the-medico-legal-autopsy-when-it-is-mandatory-in-colombia/)
- [Cause, mechanism and manner of death](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/cause-mechanism-and-manner-of-death/)
- [Chain of custody (cadena de custodia) in the hospital or rural post](https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/chain-of-custody-in-the-hospital-or-rural-post/)

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Educational content on forensic and legal medicine; not legal advice and no substitute for the technical guides of Colombia's National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. Laws change: each page links the official text and says when it was last checked. For a real case, follow the guide in force and ask the competent authority.

Sources: [The Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016)](https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Publications/MinnesotaProtocol.pdf) (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), 2017); [Decreto 786 de 1990: autopsias clínicas y médico-legales y viscerotomías (compilado en el Decreto 780 de 2016)](https://www.funcionpublica.gov.co/eva/gestornormativo/norma.php?i=168508) (Función Pública, Gestor Normativo, 1990).

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License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Cite as: DurgiPedia (durgical.com), https://durgical.com/en/forensic-medicine/the-minnesota-protocol-investigating-potentially-unlawful-deaths/