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Demographic Change and Forensic Identification: Problems in Metric Identification of Hispanic Skeletons *
Author(s) -
Spradley M. Katherine,
Jantz Richard L.,
Robinson Alan,
Peccerelli Fredy
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2007.00614.x
Subject(s) - crania , forensic anthropology , identification (biology) , metric (unit) , population , demography , discriminant function analysis , biological anthropology , forensic identification , estimation , white (mutation) , geography , criminology , psychology , computer science , sociology , biology , machine learning , archaeology , ecology , engineering , biochemistry , operations management , gene , systems engineering
The United States (U.S.) population structure is currently in a state of flux with one of the most profound changes being the increasing number of people referred to as Hispanic. In the U.S., much of the identification criteria for a biological profile are based on American Black and White individuals from anatomical collections. Using metric data from the Forensic Anthropology Data Bank (FDB), this paper will attempt to explore several issues that forensic anthropologists face when confronted with Hispanic remains. These will involve estimation of sex, height, and ancestry, the initial components of a biological profile. Discriminant function analyses indicate that American White criteria provide poor estimations of sex when applied to Hispanics and that ancestry estimation of Hispanic crania is difficult. Additionally, a new linear regression equation is presented that estimates stature for Hispanic individuals, although population specific criteria are still needed for Hispanic individuals from diverse geographical origins.