A group of researchers have invented a new system that substantially advances the matching of human remains with skulls, making the process both more targeted and more scientifically sound.
Forensic ID Revolutionized
The identification of human remains is an integral aspect of forensic investigations, and its historic subjectivity and non-quantitative nature have led to a need for objective quantitative means of analysis.
Craniofacial superimposition has been the traditionally preferred method of this analysis, which is based upon comparing an unidentified skull with the facial photographs of the missing person by overlay. Unfortunately, this is challenging as it can also be rather complex and depend heavily on forensic expert skills.
A team of researchers that includes scientists in the Andalusian Earth Sciences Institute, a joint center between the University of Granada and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), proposes a new solution in what is now known as Science — the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In a new study—the first of its kind—in the journal Information Fusion, they present an evidence evaluation system based on likelihood ratios (LRs) in craniofacial superimposition, a method used in other forensic fields such as DNA comparison, voice examination and fingerprint comparison.
Augmenting Objectivity and Precision
This novel method developed by the researchers is the most innovative in the field of forensic identification. This study has used the LR framework in order to apply it to craniofacial superimposition, so that is has created a quantitative method that can provide scientific evidence for decision making.
The experiments, of which there are three in total, serve to assess the performance of the system under differing circumstances. The1st experiment facial full images, the 2nd experiment facial profile images and the3rd experiment both frontal and lateral image together.
For both of the calibration and the discriminating power phases, impressive results have been obtained by applying those system in all three experiments. This is one way it could accurately gauge the quality of the evidence, and offer forensic experts an improved tool to help identify human remains with less of their hopefully-less-biased input!
The researchers note that as of now the technique is just a proof of theory that only uses synthetic data. However, they remain confident that using a large amount of real data as an imput into the LR-based system will still deliver significant progress in general forensic identification.
Conclusion
The results presented in this study represent a breakthrough in the field of identifying human remains using craniofacial superimposition. The researchers have developed a letter pair likelihood ratio system that could give forensic experts a quantitative metric to help with making decisions in court. While this method is still in its infancy, and needs further development and validation with modern forensic casework, the technique could upend how we identify unknown remains to provide familial closure and community healing after a tragedy.
