New Method for Discriminating African-American From European-American Skeletons Using Postcranial Osteometrics Reflective of Body Shape

• NCJ Number: 182666
• Journal: Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 44 Issue: 5 Dated: September 1999 Pages: 926-930
• Author(s): Trenton W. Holliday Ph.D.; Anthony B. Falsetti Ph.D.
• Editor(s): R. E. Gaensslen Ph.D.
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Technical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Discriminant function analysis based on seven post-cranial measurements for the metric assessment of race was conducted to compare body shape features such as limb length, relative body mass, and skeletal trunk height in the skeletons of African-Americans and European-Americans.

Abstract

A sample from the Terry Collection was used to create independent functions for African-American males and females and for European-American males and females. These functions were tested using known forensic cases. Based on the sample, the correct classification of race for males was 87 percent and for females 100 percent. For the independent test population, correct classification for males was 81.8 percent and for females only 57.1 percent. The low classification for females was attributed to sample bias. 28 references, 2 endnotes, and 9 tables