Project IDENTIFICATION: Developing Accurate Identification Criteria for Hispanic Individuals

A fundamental goal in forensic anthropology is to provide a biological profile for an unknown individual or individuals found in a forensic context. The majority of reference collections used to build identification criteria for the biological profile (age, sex, ancestry, and stature) come from the Terry and Todd anatomical collections, comprised mainly of 19th and 20th century American Black and White individuals. This proposed research will assist in reducing the analysis time dedicated to unidentified individuals of Hispanic origin, so that cases might be processed in a more timely and accurate manner, thereby reducing case backlog. ca/ncf