Reliability in individual identification by skull-photo superimposition and morphological categorization of face photographs in malaysian males representing the three major races
Skull-photo superimposition is a scientific method for suggesting identification of unidentified human remains. It acquires especial relevance for countries where dental records are not regularly available for identifying the unidentified dead bodies, e.g. India and Southeast Asian countries that...
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| Format: | Monograph |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Pusat Pengajian Sains Perubatan
2010
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| Online Access: | http://eprints.usm.my/54418/1/SEE%20SIM%20LEE%20-%20e.pdf http://eprints.usm.my/54418/ |
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| Summary: | Skull-photo superimposition is a scientific method for suggesting identification of
unidentified human remains. It acquires especial relevance for countries where dental
records are not regularly available for identifying the unidentified dead bodies, e.g. India
and Southeast Asian countries that includes Malaysia. A research on the reliability of
skull-photo superimposition method conducted in 1994 utilizing Caucasoid skulls and face
photographs indicated approximately 1 0% possible wrong match. Moreover, the
equipments used during that research were those available at that time. The reliability of
skull-photo superimposition using Malaysian samples deserved to be studied. In this
researc~ a single male skull assessed as Asiatic and 30 face photographs of males, ten
each belonging to the three major races in Malaysia, namely Malays, Chinese and Indian,
were used. Each male face was represented in two views, frontal and lateral views. Thus, a
total number of 60 superimpositions were conducted. The video superimposition device
utilized is the state of the art kind which is far advanced compared to the device used
during the 1994 research. Furthermore, the relative enlargement of the face photograph
was obtained using the distance between Whitnall' s tubercles which assured imposing a
condition; it was not done in the earlier research. The superimposed images were
examined for the match using the guidelines which included studies of the profile flow in
addition to landmark correlations. The result indicated that all the 30 male face
photographs could be excluded and there was no wrong match among them. Besides, the
traits enabling exclusion were studied. Imposing inter-Whitnall' s tubercular distance as an
enlargement parameter indicated non-correlation at the level of the gnathion in 23 of the
samples. This is explainable as due to the longer total facial height in the skull.
Asymmetry in superimposed images enabled excluding 5 of the samples in which the skull length and face length were comparable. Non-correlation in tissue thickness excluded 2
samples. It is shown that imposing an anatomical parameter for obtaining the face
enlargement and application of state of the art equipment and methodology led to increase
in the reliability of identification using skull-photo superimposition method. In Malaysia,
superimposition-based evidence has been accepted in the courts although the expert was
from a foreign country. The fmdings of this research indicate the scope for popularizing
skull-photo superimposition as a regular method for identifying the unidentified dead
bodies in Malaysia. |
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