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FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGY IN LONG‐TERM INVESTIGATIONS: 100 COLD YEARS
Author(s) -
Kimmerle Erin H.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
annals of anthropological practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.22
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 2153-9588
pISSN - 2153-957X
DOI - 10.1111/napa.12039
Subject(s) - repatriation , criminology , homicide , history , economic justice , forensic anthropology , accountability , law , sociology , genealogy , demography , political science , medicine , suicide prevention , poison control , archaeology , environmental health
The objective of this paper is to examine how a humanitarian approach to long‐term missing and/or unidentified persons and cold cases can increase case solvability exemplified through the investigation of deaths at the Florida Industrial School for Boys (a.k.a. Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys) in Marianna, Florida. The school closed following a century of controversy regarding abuse, malfeasance, and allegations of murder; prior to closure, the school was subjected to repeated State and Federal investigations. Through the course of this investigation (2011–current), 55 unmarked burials were located and excavated for identification and repatriation using a range of forensic anthropology field and laboratory methods. In 2014, the first child victim was positively identified. This event occurred 100 years after the first reported death at the school and more than 70 years after George Owen Smith went missing. The identity of the decedents, and circumstances surrounding their deaths are established based on archival research forensic interviews, skeletal analysis, and DNA comparisons. These analytical tools are establishing patterns among those who died at the school, which include a disproportionate amount of African American deaths, a high number of runaway deaths, and a high prevalence of death due to infectious disease and illness, likely resulting from the practices and policies of the institution. The historical significance of human and civil rights violations in Florida in the area of juvenile justice and the rights of families to have accountability and transparency, decades after the deaths occurred, are discussed.