Richard Steinberg Identifying The Victim

Forensic scientists can identify the body through dental records, DNA samples or if the fingers are intact, fingerprints.

The evidence that they find gets relayed to the medical examiner. Forensic anthropologists have the ability to classify the cause of death by examining marks or fractures found on the bones which in return helps officials determine the weapon used. All of this information helps the medical examiner find the cause of death, based on damages to the bones that a forensic anthropologist finds.

There were many factors that lead t the discovery of the skeleton owner’s gender, ethnicity, height, and age.

After that they “analyze bones to determine the victim's biological profile” as it is said in “What is Forensic Anthropology” by R.U. Steinberg.

Description: Forensic Anthropologists helps to study the skeletal systems of people to determine the sex, ethnicity, and distinct characteristics of the dead skeleton they are studying.

What can the distribution of bones tell a forensic scientist? What do you think would be the most challenging aspect of collecting skeletal remains at a crime scene?

“This is my lab and what we do is study bones,” states Kari Bruwelheide in her video entitled “30,000 Skeletons”. Out of all three resources, “Puzzles of the Chesapeake” by Sally Walker, “Forensic Anthropology” by an unknown author, and “30,000 Skeletons” by Smithsonian Education, but presented by Kari Bruwelheide, “30,000 Skeletons” is by far better at explaining the role of an anthropologist. It is unbeatable because it is a video and Kari Bruwelheide has personal experience of being a forensic anthropologist. A forensic anthropologist is a scientist that studies human remains, or in another word, skeletons, to try to find out information.

Forensic anthropologist examine skeletal remains for elements of a skeleton that can give clues to the person it belongs to. The Kennewick man’s skeleton was found in surprisingly good condition meaning the damage to the skeleton was done in his life, not due to deterioration. The skeleton showed a projectile point lodged in his hip, five broken ribs that did not properly heal, two small dents in his skull, and a bum shoulder. These wounds show an insight to the lifestyle

After finding some skeletal remains, the police have provided a list of three missing persons, Kim Lee, Theresa Woods and Jonathan Parker. While spending multiple days in the lab, plenty of information was collected to help with the identification of the bones, such as the sex of the victim, the age of the victim and the approximate height and race of the victim. This data was compiled to draw a conclusion and safely identify the remains.

Your Work: Forensic anthropologists work with professional organizations to identify disaster victims. They analyze skeletal and badly decomposed human remains. They will try to assess the age, sex, ancestry, stature, and unique features of the skeleton. They will frequently work with forensic pathologists, odontologists, and homicide investigators. Their goal is to be able to match the skeleton with a missing person or victim.

As a forensic anthropologist, Brennan main focus is to assist law enforcement agencies with her knowledge to inspect skeletons. Her main motive in this case was to determine individual 's age, sex, time of death, and physical condition from their skeleton remains. It is extremely crucial that Brennan diagnoses the skeleton remains accurately, as the legal investigation greatly depends on it. Brennan refers to multiple biological anthropology methods while she was assessing

Dr. Brennen, a forensic anthropologist, finds remains all throughout the book in different scenarios. She finds human bones among lots of bear bones in a bag in the woods and she examines the remains of a baby found in a wood stove, in a plane crash, privy, and a submerged car. She briefly goes into discussion of what she does as a forensic anthropologist. She uses her knowledge of bones to identify the cause and manner of death in victims that are too compromised for autopsy; meaning there is little to no tissue left for a proper autopsy. (Reichs 2004:16). She also uses various methods throughout the book to identify the sex, age, stature, and ancestry, as well as securing an identification of the victim.

Forensic anthropologist knowledge of the human body, helps aid in the outcome of a death investigation. (Stanojevich) To help solve criminal trials, the systematic recovery and collection of physical evidence in the field, the scientific analysis in the laboratory and the protection of integrity of evidence, is crucial. Usually, response teams from either federal, state, or local authorities will gather and examine the physical evidence of a crime scene, but there are often times, when a forensic anthropologist is called in. Forensic anthropologist are major players, because they are trained in anthropology, archaeology, human osteology, forensic taphonomy, and chain-of-evidence procedures. Their study of human remains, aids in the case by working to assess the age, sex, stature, ancestry and unique features of a skeleton. Forensic anthropologist have been used to investigate victims of homicide, accidental deaths, natural deaths, and mass fatalities. The cases a forensic anthropologist works on usually involve victims that are decomposed, skeletonized, or have body parts that are missing. Often times, the forensic anthropologist, is the last chance for identification and justice for the victims. (Walsh-Haney)

Forensic dental biometrics used to identify unidentified victims. Automatic forensic identification utilizes dental radiographs. Biometrics can be classified in two category based on characteristic like behavioral and physical. Physical biometric represents iris, fingerprint, face recognition etc. Behavioral biometric represent voice, gait, signature and all behavioral traits of individual. Evaluation of biometrics features requires

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.