NCJ Number
224710
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 53 Issue: 5 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 1035-1039
Date Published
September 2008
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Since the successful prosecution of genocide requires that the victims constitute one of four protected groups (national, religious, ethnic, or racial), this study tested whether the decedent’s use of material culture (clothing and personal effects) was reliable evidence of a victim’s ethnic identity in genocide investigations.
Abstract
The study findings show that reliable, replicable scoring protocols can be developed in order to assess the material culture of decedents and that, when present, clothing and personal effects permit the accurate classification of unknown decedents to their appropriate ethnic groups. Significant differences were found in evidence of language, nationality, and religious affiliation between the two groups examined (Hispanics and Whites in New Mexico), as well as clothing types and currency. In discussing cautions and limitations for these findings, the authors advise the intent of the study was not to provide standards that could be generalized to the entire United States, particularly more Northern States with American-born Hispanic populations. Rather, the study intended to replicate and test conditions common to genocide, specifically a geographically definable region with discrete ethnic populations, and to determine whether variation in material culture could be quantified among the populations of that region. The study scored classes of clothing and personal effects for 3,430 individuals of known Hispanic or White ancestry from autopsy records in New Mexico. 5 tables and 25 references