Forensic age estimation in living individuals: methodological considerations in the context of medico-legal practice

Abstract

Abstract:The reconciliation of skeletal and chronological age is of paramount concern in the context of criminal proceedings involving living individuals, who frequently lack any associated identification documentation, and are referred to the criminal justice system. It is important to appreciate that skeletal and chronological ages are not the same measurement of time-since-birth, and depending on the analytical approaches applied, there will be an inherent source of variation between estimated (biological: skeletal, physical, and psychological) and actual (legal) age. Given the evidentiary value attached to the estimation of age based on the subjective assessment of biological and psychological developmental attributes, it is timely to consider current approaches toward achieving the latter. The aim of this review is to first explore a selection of circumstances that result in requests for forensic age assessment in living individuals. Issues pertaining to competency to perform an assessment, sources of error that may be introduced, and how to accordingly quantify the level of uncertainty in the final estimation are then considered. This logically leads into discussions of the necessity for population-specific statistical biological data. Current methods based on psychological development, dental status, and skeletal maturation are then reviewed. The review concludes by exploring future research and practical directions in the context of medico-legal practice and social consequences.

Validation of third molar maturity index (I 3M ) for discrimination of juvenile/adult status in South Indian population

“…A wide variety of methods based on the skeletal maturity [40][41][42][43][44] and dental development 31,45,46 have been published for age estimation. All these methods have proven to be accurate when applied to the individuals from the population from which those standards are derived 47 . It is a known fact that the application of foreign standards to the testing population results in a proportionate reduction of the expected accuracy.…”

“…At prior, it is important to assess the levels of accuracy of these foreign standards and the degree of dissimilarity between the original reference sample and to those for whom these standards are applied 48,49 . Age estimation in living thus needed to be performed using appropriate population-specific standards 47 .…”

Accuracy of a cut-off value based on the third molar index: Validation in an Australian population

“…Assessment of dental status is not commonly utilized as proof of legal age of majority in Australia [12]. Since 2001, in the context of criminal proceedings in this country, the most widely assessed age markers for determination of adult status (18 years of age) has been the radiographic analysis of the bones in the hand-wrist complex.…”

“…There are other methods available, including the assessment of psychological development [10][11][12], albeit only the first two attributes described above are within the expertise of the practicing forensic anthropologist. In addition to the above considerations, age assessment in the living must also accord with relevant ethical and legal legislations concerning consent, confidentiality, health and safety; in particular dosage levels of potential deleterious radiation for any associated radiographic imaging [13,14].…”

Correlation between Cervical Vertebrae Maturation and Chronological Age: A Radiographic Study

“…This is in accordance with the previous studies. [13][14][15] It is also important to know if this assessment is reliable and could be reproduced without errors. An intraexaminer and interexaminer error, which was not statistically significant, showed the reliability of this method.…”