Who are they? A retrospective study of unidentified bodies in Institute of Medical-Legal Paris from 2018 to 2023.

IF 1.4 4区 医学 Q3 MEDICINE, LEGAL
Forensic Sciences Research Pub Date : 2024-08-27 eCollection Date: 2024-09-01 DOI:10.1093/fsr/owae051
Alexandre Biro, Bertrand Ludes, Tania Delabarde
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

"I still don't realize that he's dead.... I cried over it. It makes me sad to know that he was buried unaccompanied on his last trip. We were all shocked." This testimony corresponds to a family whose relative was buried in an anonymous grave 6 months after his disappearance was reported to the police. It is estimated that between 1 000 and 3 000 unidentified bodies are buried in anonymous graves in France each year. Most of these decedents have passed through the medico-legal system. However the identification of these bodies, outside the context of mass disasters, remains a complex problem. Several national and international publications have highlighted the prevalent problem of unidentified burials and the consequences for families who do not know the fate of their loved ones, specifically, whether they are alive or deceased. This 6-year retrospective study (2018-2023), covering a total of 2 324 unidentified decedents admitted to the Institute of Medical-Legal Paris (IMLP), aimed to assess the impact of the identification protocol implemented in 2017 on the number of bodies that remain unidentified (n = 164). In addition, this study aimed to establish profiles for individuals who remained unidentified with the objective of identifying the factors that hinder their identification and developing correlated methods to address these issues. The results of this study were compared with other published studies to highlight the global problem and the ongoing need for collaboration between forensic practitioners and relevant authorities.

Key points: Despite great advances in human identification, unidentified decedents remain a global problem.This 6-year overview study covering a total of 2 324 unidentified bodies admitted to the IMLP provided relevant information about the unidentified decedent population and assessed the impact of a protocol established in 2017 on the rate of deceased buried without identity in Paris.The need to establish a national database in France to properly document and disseminate information on missing persons and to centralize the biological profile of unidentified bodies is key, as without antemortem information or a biometric database there can be no matching.

他们是谁?2018年至2023年巴黎医学法律研究所无名尸体的回顾性研究。
"我还没意识到他已经死了....。我为此哭泣。知道他最后一次旅行是在无人陪伴的情况下下葬的,这让我很难过。我们都很震惊"。这个家庭的亲属在向警方报告失踪 6 个月后被埋在一个无名墓中。据估计,法国每年有 1000 到 3000 具身份不明的尸体被埋入无名墓穴。这些死者中的大多数都通过了医疗法律系统的鉴定。然而,在大规模灾难之外,这些尸体的身份识别仍然是一个复杂的问题。一些国内和国际出版物强调了普遍存在的无名葬问题,以及不知道亲人命运(特别是生死)的家庭所面临的后果。这项为期 6 年的回顾性研究(2018-2023 年)涵盖了巴黎医学法律研究所(IMLP)接收的共计 2 324 名身份不明的死者,旨在评估 2017 年实施的身份识别协议对仍身份不明的遗体数量(n = 164)的影响。此外,这项研究还旨在为仍未确认身份的个人建立档案,目的是找出阻碍其身份确认的因素,并制定相关方法来解决这些问题。本研究的结果与其他已发表的研究结果进行了比较,以强调这一全球性问题以及法医从业人员与相关当局之间持续合作的必要性:这项为期 6 年的概述性研究涵盖了 IMLP 共接收的 2 324 具身份不明的尸体,提供了关于身份不明死者群体的相关信息,并评估了 2017 年制定的一项协议对巴黎无身份死者埋葬率的影响。在法国建立一个国家数据库以妥善记录和传播失踪人员信息并集中管理身份不明尸体的生物特征是关键所在,因为没有验尸信息或生物特征数据库就无法进行比对。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Forensic Sciences Research
Forensic Sciences Research MEDICINE, LEGAL-
CiteScore
3.60
自引率
7.70%
发文量
158
审稿时长
26 weeks
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