Advantages And Disadvantages Of Facial Reconstruction

Law enforcement agencies have relied on forensic art as one of their investigation methods for many years. The job of a forensic artist is quite difficult because he or she must reconstruct an image of an individual based on just hearsay and memory from another individual. The purpose of this study is to research forensic artists, also known as sketch artists, and their ability to draw up a suspect through the information provided by a witness. Interviews on two different forensic artists provide insight of the duties and hardships a law enforcement sketch artist takes on. The process of how law enforcement sketch artists are able to recreate the face of another individual, and how that picture can be a very useful piece of evidence for crime reports will also be addressed throughout the study. This study is relevant to anthropology because it touches on how how an individual perceives those around them and forensics itself is also one of the key topics discussed in biological anthropology.

     Computer Animation is another valuable aspect in Forensics. Many People believe that they are getting “virtually framed”, and that computer animations are inconclusive. This has been shown to be wrong and is said to be much more accurate then an actual man reenactment. Computers are able to precisely pinpoint every single aspect of the reenactment. Some argue that this may “Create reality” and not illustrate it, but that’s up to the court to decide. An example of how this works was used when a snowplow struck an Iowa State basketball players car killing him. The plow driver was going 10 miles over the speed limit. This video was recreated and showed a fatal blow the side of the deceased’s car. Although he was speeding this movie was recreated with the plow going the speed limit and he still would have been fatally killed. The Iowa student didn’t look when pulling out into the intersection if you’re wondering. Also, Forensic Scientists use computer animation to simulate the aging or appearance change in a criminal or deceased individual. Though this is a great technique, things cannot always be exactly 100% certain on the reconstruction. A lot of the deciding whether this if valid, is up too the jury souly. This can even help provide the cause of death in a badly degraded badly.

Computer reconstruction uses 3D technology to get a visual of the face while most use clay models a bad side to computer reconstruction is that you have to adjust the picture to make sure it is for sure.

Over the years, several techniques involving the analysis of human skeletal remains for the purposes of ancestral classification have been developed. Many of the earliest techniques involved the visual comparison of different morphoscopic traits and subsequent classification based on the anthropologist’s subjective opinion. Although many of these non-metric techniques have been shown to be

When analyzing the documentary, “The Real CSI” Frontline Correspondent Lowell Bergman investigates three cases dealing with forensic evidence. First being the long practice of latent fingerprint analysis, bite marks, and the odder of death.

This article argues that the physical appearance not only matters, it is important to our everyday life. It states that we uses some of the physical characteristics, especially facial appearance, to identify certain types of people. It is a survival skill in the case of recognizing criminals ,children, and peers. This is a scholarly research on facial appearance. I can use this to a one of the major point to support my thesis.

This technique involves science and art as it guesses on how the soft tissues may have fitted on the skull based on skull characteristics, sex, and race. The facial sculpting uses molding clay to create a modal of what the victim may have looked like in life. However, if this fails we could use carbon-14 dating. Carbon- 14 dating deals with the radiocarbon found in the air we breathe due to the above ground nuclear testing increase; teeth grown in intervals and absorb these microscopic molecules. In adults they can help date time of birth within a 1.5 range which can allow for investigators to search for hospitals that apply to the year of birth with the other evidence such as race, sex, age, ect to help narrow the search. Additionally, another test we could use called bone analysis. It is a basic test because, simply put, it is the observation of the bones. Bone analysis permits the collecting of past injuries to the bone such as a broken femur or a fracture to the occipital region of the skull that could be used to slim down the search among missing persons. Thus, allowing investigators to exclude missing persons who do not have these past injuries to the bone and focus on whose who's families have reported that they

This paper will focus mainly on the history and the various techniques that forensic facial reconstruction has to offer. It will also go over some problems or an issue that is process has faced over the years. The Daubert Standard will discuss and how facial reconstruction was allowed as evidence thru this standard. I will go over all the periods of time that facial reconstruction was used. Computerized and Clay reconstruction will be discussed and how they have help investigators solved current and cold case crimes.

This paper explores the history of forensic odontology, the technologies of odontology, the requirements to pursue a career in forensic odontology, and two infamous cases that forensic odontology helped to reach a conviction of both Ted Bundy and Wayne Boden. Many of the sources used will cover multiple topics, but each topic will be addressed in its own paragraph and each topic will be gone into detail with explanation regarding why each piece of information was provided. Articles that cover the history of odontology will address both the beginnings of odontology and where odontology has come today. Articles covering the technologies of odontology will address how technologies have progressed and the origin of them. Articles containing details on how one may pursue a career in forensic odontology will cover educational requirements and recommendations from experts who have worked in the field for many of years. Articles pertaining to Ted Bundy and his respective case and Wayne Boden and his respective case will delve deep into how odontologists were able to match the two criminals to bite marks left on victims and ultimately convict them of their crimes.

Unlike the other forensic specialists I was travelling with, my job as a forensic odontologist was only part-time. My full time job had me nestled in the safe suburban streets of Sydney where I had my practice. The want to contribute more to people’s lives directed me into forensic odontology where I used my skills and knowledge as a dentist to investigate crimes (Explorehealthcareers.org, 2015). Thinking back to the time of the incident and comparing it to the present, there are so many more tools and resources available to us now, which always makes me think, how would identification have been different if we had all these resources available to us then? How would it have sped up the process?

In the article “Giving Faces to the Lost” They explain the Russian method where you build muscles under the skin and the American method where you just put the skin on the skull. I decided to use the American method would be best for this situation. I rebuilt the skin. Then using computer scanning I made many different hairstyles and features so someone can recognize this

The book gives a general overview of the field of forensic science. The sections of the book include “The Scene of the Crime; Working the Scene--The Evidence; Working the Scene of the Body Human;

The purpose of crime scene reconstruction is to help determine what actually occurred or eliminating actions, events, or suspects through a methodical analysis of identification and examination of physical evidence. By recognizing and identifying the location, impressions, patterns and positions of physical evidence, as well as the scene presentation, an examiner or investigator can apply scientific methods, logic and past experiences to develop a theory in conjunction with information collected from a victim and witnesses (University of Split, n.d.).

Estimating the age at time of death from an unidentified individual’s remains is an important factor of forensic anthropology. There are certain standard processes and procedures that are employed in the lab to help determine the age as well as other biological profile data. In young adults, bone and tooth maturation are often used to roughly estimate the age of the body. In adults, the deterioration of bones is used to predict the age of the unknown body.

The next specialized personnel that I would utilize would be that of the sketch artist. This individual is very important to the investigation. The sketch artist is responsible for focusing on facial features as they interview informants, asking them to choose from examples of noses, eyes, mouths, foreheads and chins. Sketching is mostly done by hand, but forensic artists specializing in age progression may use computer graphic programs.