What is lividity?

Lividity refers specifically to the discoloration of the skin that occurs after death, resulting from the pooling of blood in the lower parts of the body due to gravity. This phenomenon occurs when the heart stops beating, leading to blood no longer being distributed throughout the body. As a result, the areas where blood has settled become visibly darker, typically appearing purplish or reddish. This change in skin coloration can provide insight into the time of death as well as the position of the body at the time of death, which can be critical for forensic investigations. Understanding lividity can assist forensic professionals in determining factors related to the decedent's position and the time elapsed since death, making it an important concept in forensic science.

The other concepts, such as post-mortem rigidity, identification methods, and decomposition processes, refer to different aspects of post-mortem changes and do not accurately describe lividity.