Policy background Coroner’s Courts
Coroners are independent judicial officeholders who have a duty to investigate deaths reported to them that may be violent or unnatural, that have an unknown cause or that occurred in prison or in other state detention.
	The purpose of a coronial investigation is to determine who the deceased was and how, when and where they died. In order to do this, the coroner may hold an inquest which is a fact-finding inquiry in a court. In some cases, for example non-natural deaths in custody or other state detention, the inquest has to be held with a jury.
	During the COVID-19 pandemic, coroners have reported backlogs of inquest cases, in particular jury and non-jury complex inquests due to social distancing regulations.