# "Pending notification of next kin..." **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 21, 2004, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pending-notification-of-next-kin/270401 "2004-10-21T13:48:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pending-notification-of-next-kin/270401/1 "2004-10-21T13:48:03Z")
I’m not sure where to stick this, so I’ll stick it here. I was reading [this article about a couple who was slain](http://www.click2houston.com/news/3834825/detail.html?subid=22100412&qs=1;bp=t) while their children slept. They gave the details of the incident, the ages of the two children, and the name of the woman involved. But they didn’t release the name of the man, pending notification of next of kin. Am I wrong in thinking that this makes zero sense whatsoever? If the next of kin picks up the newspaper and sees that Amy Kousol was shot to death, and her boyfriend/husband as well, doesn’t it stand to reason that they would work out who the man was? Bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pending-notification-of-next-kin/270401/2 "2004-10-21T13:50:03Z")
Sorry, have to quote this little snippet too. (Maybe this should be in the Pit…) > [@](#): > > “When I heard about it, I was just glad it wasn’t (the 8-year-old boy) because he is such a sweet little boy,” neighbor Linda Owens said." WTF kind of response is THAT? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pending-notification-of-next-kin/270401/3 "2004-10-21T14:07:19Z")
Sounds like an observance of _the letter_ of some law, rather than its spirit. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pending-notification-of-next-kin/270401/4 "2004-10-21T14:17:19Z")
I always wondered; is there a law that dictates the notification of next of kin? It always seemed to me just the civil, decent thing to do. I can’t even imagine discovering in a newspaper that someone in my family had passed away. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pending-notification-of-next-kin/270401/5 "2004-10-21T17:43:47Z")
It’s not a law at all (at least in the USA). It’s standard practice by law enforcement and public safety officials not to release the name of the deceased until their relatives have been officially notified of the death. Think for a minute - if someone in your family died (knock on wood), how would you want to hear of it - in the newspaper, on the radio or TV, or two policemen at your door notifying you personally? And that phrase always sounded overused and trite to me. When I was a Radio newsman, I would always say something along the lines of: “The victim’s name has been withheld until his relatives are notified.” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pending-notification-of-next-kin/270401/6 "2004-10-21T18:34:55Z")
Back in the day when I was working as a reporter, the state police would give us the names and tell us that the families had not yet been notified. The standard understanding was that we’d hold up on releasing the names for 24 hours. The whole gentleman’s understanding fell apart a few years ago in St. Louis when a very popular TV personality got into a mess in his personal life, then hopped in his plane, took off, climbed to 2,000 feet and nose-dived into the runway. His wife was out of town and no one could track her down. Every news organization in town was reporting it – except the TV station he worked for. For 24 hours they hedged, used euphemisims (after all, you can’t just say NOTHING when a private plane crashes nose first into the runway of a public airport, killing the pilot) and spent the next three days tryng to explain why they wouldn’t actually say it was their own employee who died.