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Computer-based craniofacial superimposition in forensic identification using soft computing

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Abstract

One of the most important tasks in forensic anthropology is human identification. Over the past decades, forensic anthropologists have focused on improving techniques to increase the accuracy of identification. Following a thorough examination of unidentified human remains, the investigator chooses a specific identification technique to be applied, depending on the availability of ante mortem and post mortem data. Craniofacial superimposition is a forensic process in which photographs of a missing person are compared with a skull in order to determine whether is the individual depicted and the skeletal remains are the same person. After more than one century of development, craniofacial superimposition has become an interdisciplinary research field where computer science has acquired a key role as a complement of forensic sciences. Moreover, the availability of new digital equipment has resulted in a significant advance in the applicability of this forensic identification technique. In this paper, we review a semi-automatic method devised to assist the forensic anthropologist in the identification process using craniofacial superimposition. The technique is based on a three-stage methodology. The first two are performed automatically by soft computing techniques. However, the final decision corresponds to the forensic expert. The performance of the proposed method is illustrated using several real-world identification cases.

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Notes

  1. We cannot provide this dataset as public domain due to the Spanish law for protection of personal data.

  2. Notice that these three images have a frontal or near-frontal pose of the face, and/or the corresponding craniometric set of landmarks is coplanar or near-coplanar.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia under the project TIN2009-07727. The authors would like to thank the team of the Physical Anthropology Laboratory of the University of Granada for providing us with real-world cases for our analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European Centre for Soft Computing, 33600, Mieres, Asturias, Spain

    B. Rosario Campomanes-Álvarez, Sergio Damas & Óscar Ibáñez

  2. Department of Computer Science and Artifical Intelligence, University of Granada, 18014, Granada, Spain

    Óscar Cordón

  3. Research Center on Information and Communication Technologies (CITIC-UGR), University of Granada, 18014, Granada, Spain

    Óscar Cordón

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  1. B. Rosario Campomanes-Álvarez
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  2. Óscar Cordón
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  3. Sergio Damas
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  4. Óscar Ibáñez
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Correspondence to B. Rosario Campomanes-Álvarez.

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Campomanes-Álvarez, B.R., Cordón, Ó., Damas, S. et al. Computer-based craniofacial superimposition in forensic identification using soft computing. J Ambient Intell Human Comput 5, 683–697 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-012-0168-1

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