Human identification: a review of methods employed within an Australian coronial death investigation system

Whilst many identification methods have been widely described and discussed in the literature, and considered in disaster and humanitarian contexts, there has been limited reporting and evaluation of the identification methods used in domestic medico-legal death investigation contexts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the identification methods utilised at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM), which forms part of a coronial medico-legal death investigation system. The method of identification and time taken to complete the identification were reviewed for all cases admitted to the VIFM over a five-year period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2020. The majority, 91%, of individuals admitted to the VIFM were visually identified. The remaining 9% of cases required identification by primary methods (i.e. fingerprints, DNA or dental) or, when those methods were not possible, by secondary methods (i.e. circumstantial). Visual identifications were the timeliest, taking an average of 1.5 days, whilst primary identification methods required an average of 5 days to complete. The triaging of identification methods, dependent on the case context, body preservation, availability of ante-mortem data, legal requirements and admissibility of the method, are determined by identification coordinators within the Human Identification Service (HIS) to ensure the most appropriate and timely method is employed. This review of human identification methods provides the foundation for future analyses to compare workflow processes and improve identification methods utilised in domestic medico-legal contexts.