Indentifying a Murder Victim - Essay Example

Murder Victim Identification Detectives and other government units usually conduct murder identification inthe case whereby an unknown person has been found dead. Cases of people getting murdered and any trace of evidence which can make the police department easily identify them are erased. The murder culprit can either burn the body or distort the body through cutting it into small pieces. The body could have extremely aged as the victim died a long time ago making it hard for anyone to identify the victim just by barely looking at the body.

The burnt or mutilated bodies are very hard for recognition and cross examining of little pieces is made to identify the victims. Examining of the teeth by a forensic dentists Scientists over the years have come up with ways of identifying the body in question and the research. The methods are extremely helpful in the cases where the victim has only bones and teeth left for identification. Where teeth are the only thing remaining in the murdered victim, forensic dentistry is the appropriate technique that can be used in the finding out of the victim.

After carrying out the examination, the forensic dentist can now tell the age of the victim and the real identity of the victim (Claridge, 2013). The forensic dentists in their examinations use dental records top help in the identification. The dentists can also identify injuries on the body that were caused by biting. The bite marks facilitate the identification of the situation that happened in the occurrence of the death of the victim. They can know if there was any struggle. This method heavily relies on the assumption that the victim visited a dentist one point in his or her life.

If the victim had as assumed visited the dentist, it would be now easier for the forensic dentist to identify the victim using the records held by dentists in the country. The forensic dentist examines the dental records of the person suspected to be the victim. The dentist can carry out a dental x-ray comparison test of the mouth of the murdered victim and this test reduces the chances of the dentist wrongly identifying the body. Some dentists also compare smiling styles of the victim and the person who they think is the victim.

The victim’s front teeth profile can be compared to the front teeth formation of the person who the dentist thinks is the murdered victim. Examining of the skeleton remains by a forensic anthropologist Forensic anthropologists come into use in the scenario whereby the only remains of the victim are bones and skeletons. The anthropologist will examine the bones and from there he will be able to tell the skin color, age and sex of the deceased. In order to make positive body identification, the anthropologist dwells with the unique skeletal traits possessed by individuals to make his conclusion.

The anthologists critically analyses the bone remains of the victim. He analyses the actual length of the femur and maybe fracture as they help in the identification of the age and sex of the victim. A chemical composition analysis is conducted on the victim and this helps in the identification of the sex of the victim (Claridge, 2013). There are certain chemical components that are more persistent in girls to boys. A detailed cross examination of the skull is also conducted. Some anthropologists perform a full reconstruction of the facial features following the formation of the bone structure that is not damaged.

The reconstructed face gives a clue of how the victim looked like and there are 90% chances of getting the correct person. Confrontation Identification This is used by police to identify murder victims who are not identifiable. The police assumes who the dead victim is. This is mainly used in the cases whereby there was a recent reporting of a kidnapping incident before the murder took place. The police invite the family which had reported such a case and asks them to help identify the body. The victim’s clothes or body appearance helps in the identification process.

Past photographs of the alleged victim are used to compare the appearance of the unidentifiable body. DNA examination This is the most used method of identifying a murder victim. It has been in use for the last 20 years hence is very reliable and accurate. Where there are little chances of finding DNA material, the forensic expert uses the other types of DNA methods other than RFLP DNA as it requires large portions of DNA (Human Genome Program, 2009). PCR DNA is the fastest and easiest DNA method used by forensics.

This method is appropriate where an individual is accused of killing a missing person. The procedure needs to be done faster to prove the innocence or guilty of the accused person. A murder victim whose DNA regenerates, the appropriate method for a forensic scientist to use is the RFLP as it is the only DNA method that is efficient in case of the DNA quantity being a lot. References Claridge, J. (2013). Identifying the Victim. Explore Forensics. Retrieved from http://www.exploreforensics.co.uk/identifying-the-victim.

html Human Genome Program. (2009). DNA Forensics. U.S. Department of Energy. Retrieved from http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/forensics.shtml