NCJ Number
206369
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 49 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2004 Pages: 464-468
Date Published
May 2004
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This study discusses problems in the identification process for the first mass grave examined in Kosovo since the crisis began, with attention to the coincidence of antemortem with postmortem data.
Abstract
The team of three forensic pathologists and one anthropologist (also medically trained), which worked under the authority of the District Court in Pec, found that the minimal number of individuals in the mass grave was 39. Twelve of them were positively identified through the use of traditional means, e.g., the correspondence of biological data with personal effects and/or documents. Identification procedures confirmed the well-documented fact that the pelvic girdle provides the most consistently correct guide to sex; the skull was less reliable. The testing of various aging methods showed that all skeletons were aged correctly within given age spans when all of the criteria were used. The lack of any local identification standards increased the probability of bias in the assessment of sex, age, and stature, so the team had reservations about making an identification based on anthropological data alone. Dental identification based on dental charts was not available, so dental identification was limited to interviews with persons who had relevant dental information about the deceased. Still, even close relatives knew little about the dental status of the victims. The antemortem data on the stature of victims were often unreliable when derived from interviews with the relatives. Information from persons who knew the victims was limited by their failure to come forward with antemortem data, even though the need for such information was heavily publicized. 9 figures, 4 tables, and 15 references