Postcranial Sex Estimation Criteria for Mexican Hispanics

• NCJ Number: 248846
• Journal: Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 60 Issue: Supplement s1 Dated: January 2015 Pages: s27-s31
• Author(s): M. K. Spradley; Bruce E. Anderson; Meredith L. Tise
• Date Published: January 2015
• Length: 5 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2008-DN-BX-K464
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored)

Annotation

This paper presents new population-specific sex estimation criteria for postcranial measurements for Mexican Hispanics.

Abstract

Population-specific reference data are necessary for sex estimation in forensic anthropological practice. Currently, there are no population-specific data for Hispanics equivalent to data available for American Blacks and Whites. Individuals of Mexican origin represent the largest group of Hispanics in the United States (Spradley and Jantz. 2011. J Forensic Sci;56:289). For the current study, metric data come from positively identified border-crossing fatalities at the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner and documented cemetery collections curated at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico and Universidad Autónoma de Yucatan. Stepwise variable selection procedures and discriminant function analyses were utilized to generate classification functions for postcrania. Sectioning points were also created for select measurements. Both the cross-validated classification rates and sectioning points achieved accuracy rates as high as 95 percent and 92 percent, respectively. These new criteria will improve sex estimation for US Mexico border crossers and Hispanics in the US. (Publisher abstract modified)