Comparing the face to the body, which is better for identification?

Area of Science:

• Forensic Science
• Anthropometry
• Biometrics

Background:

• Historical use of anthropometry for forensic identification dates to the 19th century.
• Fingerprint analysis became dominant due to perceived reliability and calculable probabilities.
• Standardized photography led to facial identification, but body measurements from images are underutilized.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the potential of body measurements for forensic identification.
• To compare the discriminatory power of body versus facial measurements.
• To determine if sufficient information exists in body measurements for unique identification.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Army Anthropometry Survey (ANSUR) database (n=3982).
• Compared eight facial and eight body measurements.
• Employed a stepwise approach, adding measurements until no duplicate cases were found.

Main Results:

• Fewer body measurements are required to achieve unique identification compared to facial measurements.
• Larger measurement ranges decrease the probability of duplicate identification.
• Eight body measurements can yield a duplicate identification probability of 10^-20, comparable to fingerprints.

Conclusions:

• Body measurements offer superior variability and discriminatory power for forensic identification compared to facial measurements.
• Anthropometric body measurements provide a reliable identification method, comparable to fingerprint analysis.
• Body measurements are advantageous due to ease of location on images and independence from facial expressions.