Abstract
Suicide is a practice as old as homicide and has a very specific context and characteristics. In cases where homicide occurs and it is disguised as suicide by the perpetrator in an attempt to get rid of his guilt, it is common for vestiges analyzed by forensic expertise to be sufficient to determine the real cause of death, but many cases may raise solid doubts about the what happened and, as an answer to this doubt, the psychological autopsy arises, born from victimology. But how can such psychological analysis help when the victim would already be dead? The psychological autopsy, with its approach to the victim's history, mental state and interpretation of actions, is able to elucidate vital points about the dynamics of the crime and bring new perspectives on the victim of the crime. A narrative type bibliographical research was carried out on scientific platforms such as SciELO, Google Scholar and others for articles, books and other publications about cases in which there is suicide and the use of psychological autopsy. As a result, it was noticed that research around the world points out that the psychological autopsy of the victim's mental state before death, as well as the interpretation of his previous actions, helps in the elucidation of crimes and are useful tools, but not decisive, requiring greater standardization.