EVALUATION OF ANATOMICAL CONSISTENCY IN CRANIOFACIAL SUPERIMPOSITION IMAGES

Using 52 skulls in forensic cases, the anatomical consistency of crani o-facial superimposition images was investigated for evaluating the va lidity in personal identification by the superimposition method, In 35 out of 52 cases the unknown skull was positively identified as the mi ssing person by matching of the outline and anatomical relation in sku ll and face images taken from frontal, oblique and lateral directions, The unknown skull in two cases was exclusive of the presumed person s ince the outline of the skull was not anatomically consistent with tha t of the face. In the remaining 15 cases, the skull in question was ex amined using only a frontal face photograph of the missing person and matched with it because of the lack of other photographs taken from di fferent angles, giving a probable identification. From our practical e xamination, it is stated that the outline from the trichion to the gna thion in the lateral or oblique view is the preferable portion for per sonal identification, and the cranio-facial superimposition method is reliable for individualization when two or more facial photographs tak en from different angles are used in the examination.