In our situation immediate family was brought to the scene...it was our responsibility to clean it up but police also wanted insight on where stuff may be hidden and it also provided us closure. There was brain matter and lots of blood and well it was not something we wanted to necessarily see...it stopped us from wondering. We had to clean the investigation up as well...finger printing powder ect. It was awful but at the same time it allowed us to grieve the facts as opposed to trying to come to terms with things and allowing our minds to run wild. It also put us on the same page as LE so that we understood the direction the investigation was going, and why. I am not sure that it is "standard" per say....I can only add based on experience.
I remember leaving the scene and not crying...I was numb...dumb founded by what I had seen and totally traumatized. I believe in my heart that JO was brough there yes to explain what may be missing but also so that she understood how and why they suspect murder. As a mother I would need to see it. I would need to know...as a daughter I would need to see it and need to know so that I could grieve. Well the information was not released to public at that point that it was a murder scene...I truly belive that the family knew this early on. And JO remaining composed was because of shock, trauma and numbness. After we left the scene of the tragedy we experienced it took me getting home, walking through my door and seeing my own clean house and how totally out of sorts the scene had been...then I vomited profusely for two hours and shock turned to greif and trauma and total pain. Everytime I looked at a white wall I seen blood and brain matter and finger print dust. however leading up to seeing the scene. ..all we could do was imagine the horror. And well what we seen was awful, scaring and horrific it was not nearly as bad as our minds had envisioned. It still haunts me though. I want to hug JO...my loss was not nearly the same magnitude with what she is experiencing and it nearly wrecked me. I cannot fathom her state right now.