Articles Published by NIJ

Researchers created an open-access computer program for estimating the age of skeletal remains that outperforms current methods. The algorithm is based on 20 age-related skeletal changes identified by experienced forensic anthropologists.

Improving postmortem interval estimation with standardized and simplified protocols could significantly impact medicolegal death investigations by providing more accurate and reliable data for determining time since death.

Two leading funding agencies renew a joint commitment to evaluate and support scientific activities relevant to criminal justice.

Identifying individuals through next generation DNA sequencing may involve degraded or mixed samples. A researcher has developed a technique to make fragmented DNA more readable, and a method to help pull individual profiles from mixed samples.

The forensic power of DNA is clear, but biological evidence also contains RNA, another potential source of information. Because RNA decomposes quickly, its utility is considered limited. Could this decomposition provide information about a sample’s age?

The regions of the genome relied on for identification of individuals pose challenges for analysts because they often produce artifacts during processing. NIJ-funded research has led to a solution that lessens the artifact problem.

Forensic scientists have explored whether lifted and archived fingerprints retain forensically useful amounts of DNA.

Investigators in two NIJ-supported studies have demonstrated that people carry unique microbial communities on their skin, and traces of those communities, left on touched objects, can be linked to the individual.

Scientific inquiry into the process of decomposition has studied a wide range of mammals and developed a fundamental understanding of the stages of decomposition, but forensic scientists should use caution in applying nonhuman data to human bodies.