The forensic techniques used in the identification of mass disaster victims

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DECLARATION

I [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for the academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW1

2.1 Automatic Identification of Humans1

2.2 Forensic Identification2

2.3 Forensic anthropology and disaster victim identification3

2.4 Identification of carbonized victims through forensic techniques4

2.5 Dental forensics and victim identification5

2.6 Early response to disasters and victim identification7

REFERENCES8

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Research has indicated that the frequency of mass disasters is increasing around the world (Perera & Briggs, 2008, p. 1), many of which are accompanied by mass fatalities. The overall purpose of DVI is to identify victims and return them to their families as quickly and efficiently as possible. Past experience has demonstrated that families will pressure the relevant authorities to identify their relatives and return them to have closure and carry out the death rituals according to their traditions, as well as to complete the procedures associated with death (life insurance claims, reading of wills, etc.) Often the DVI efforts after a mass death event will be multidisciplinary and include various areas of expertise such as forensic odontology, pathology, genetics, forensic anthropology, and general, forensic sciences. Open incidents that include unknown numbers and identities of the dead can make the identification efforts particularly difficult and possibly a long term process. In this section, we will explore the literature concerning the application of forensic techniques in the identification of victims of mass disaster.

2.1 Automatic Identification of Humans

The evidence used for human identification is categorized into three classes: what you have, what you know, and what you are (Kieser 2009, 239). The first category, what you have, includes credit cards, identification documents, etc. What you know refers to all kinds of passwords and confidential information, e.g., mother's maiden name. What you are included your anatom ical features, also called biometrics, such as your face, DNA, iris, fingerprints, etc. With the growing need for reliable and robust human identification in a variety of applications (e.g., international border crossing), biometric-based recognition has become an important topic for research in computer vision and pattern recognition (Buikstra and Ubelaker 1994).

2.2 Forensic Identification

There are two main purposes for forensic identification of humans: suspect identification and victim identification. For suspect identification, evidence such as fingerprints, bite marks, and blood samples are collected at crime scenes. Based on this evidence, the guilt or innocence of the suspects can be ...