Frontal Sinus Accuracy in Identification as Measured by False Positives in Kin Groups

• NCJ Number: 225588
• Journal: Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 53 Issue: 6 Dated: November 2008 Pages: 1280-1282
• Author(s): Roberto Cameriere Ph.D.; Luigi Ferrante Ph.D.; Theya Molleson Ph.D.; Barry Brown Ph.D.
• Date Published: November 2008
• Length: 3 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study determined whether frontal sinuses could uniquely identify individuals belonging to family groups by using Cameriere methods, as well as whether kinship could affect the proportion of erroneous identifications.

Abstract

The results show that the combined use of SOR (left frontal sinus area/left orbit area and right frontal sinus area/right orbit area) and the Yoshino code number allows personal identification with a small probability of false positives, even when kinship is taken into account. In 1987, Yoshino et al. proposed a system of classification of the frontal sinuses based on the following seven discrete (categorical, ordinal) variables: area size (left and right), bilateral asymmetry, superiority of area size, outline of superior border, partial septa, supraorbital cells, and orbital areas. This system assigns a class number to each morphological characteristic, and the frontal sinus patterns of a given person are formulated as a code number obtained by arranging the class number in each classification item as serial numbers. If the variables are considered to be independent and uniformly distributed in the population, then there is only a small probability that two different individuals will have identical code numbers; however, area size is considered a discrete variable when in fact it is a continuous one. Thus, in order to improve the performance of Yoshino et al.‘s method, Cameriere replaced frontal sinus size and bilateral asymmetry by two continuous variables, obtained as ratios SOR1 (left frontal sinus area/let orbit) and SOR2 (right frontal sinus area/right orbit area). Radiographic images of the skulls of 99 individuals belonging to 20 families with a minimum family unit composed of 4 individuals residing in Northern Ireland (43 women, 56 men), between the ages of 15 and 74 years, were analyzed. 2 tables, 1 figure, and 23 references