One valid point of it, I think, is to help survivors confront the fact of the death. From my personal experience, the body is clearly no longer the person I knew and loved; seeing it drives home the fact that the person is really gone. Yes, that’s difficult, but there’s also something healthy about it. It helps get past the denial stage of mourning. I’ve found that, for me at least, it’s better to grieve intensely as soon as possible than to gradually process it.