Korean J Leg Med.  1999 Oct;23(2):87-92.

Individual Identification

Affiliations
  • 1Department of forensic medicine, National Institute of Scientific Investigation, Korea.
  • 2Department of oral medicine, dental college, Yonsei University, Korea.

Abstract

It is noteworthy that most unidentified dead are unnatural and violent deaths. The accurate identification of a decedent permits certification of death and notification of next of kin. Only then may they proceed with the probate of wills, apply for disbursement of benefits and insurance, and begin to work through the grieving process. Law enforcement agencies need positive identification to pick up the leads of investigation to develop suspects, establish the corpus delicti of homicide and reconstruct the sequence of events of a crime. Agencies and a variety of consultants are involved in recognizing and developing the unique features of a decedent that lead to identification. Cooperative working relations with newspaper and other media will help in publicizing the need for persons with information to come forward diagrammatically. In this paper, 5 individual identification cases in unexpected or homicidal deaths are described. The comparison between the postmortem and antemortem records show that the victims are correctly identified.

Keyword

positive identification; unexpected or homicidal deaths

MeSH Terms

Certification
Consultants
Crime
Homicide
Humans
Insurance
Law Enforcement
Periodicals
Full Text Links
  • KJLM
Actions
Cited
CITED
export Copy
Close
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
Similar articles
Copyright © 2024 by Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors. All rights reserved.     E-mail: koreamed@kamje.or.kr