‘If a Picture Paints a Thousand Words’: The Development of Human Identification Techniques in Forensic Anthropology and Their Implications for Human Rights in the Criminal Process
| Author | Pamela R. Ferguson,Fiona E. Raitt |
| DOI | 10.1350/ijep.2013.17.2.422 |
| Published date | 01 January 2013 |
| Date | 01 January 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN IDENTIFICATION TECHNIQUES: HUMAN RIGHTS IMPLICATIONS
‘If a picture paints a
thousand words …’: the
development of human
identification techniques
in forensic anthropology
and their implications
for human rights in the
criminal process
By Pamela R. Ferguson*and
Professor of Scots Law, School of Law, University of Dundee
Fiona E. Raitt**
Professor of Evidence and Social Justice, School of Law, University
of Dundee
Abstract Newly developed techniques in forensic anthropology offer great
potential to assist in identifying, and ultimately convicting, perpetrators of
serious sexual assaults, particularly those involving young children. They can
also facilitate the prosecution of those who create and disseminate child
doi:10.1350/ijep.2013.17.2.422
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE & PROOF (2013) 17 E&P 127–156 127
* Email: p.r.ferguson@dundee.ac.uk.
** Email: f.e.raitt@dundee.ac.uk. Our thanks are due to Professor Pete Duff, Sheriff Tom Welsh and
Professor Sue Black and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of
the article.
pornography. They do, however, require that photographs be taken of suspects’
hands, and sometimes their genitals. This article explores the human rights
implications which arise from the intrusive procedures needed to obtain the
photographs necessary for comparative purposes. It assesses police powers; the
rights of suspects to privacy and bodily integrity; the privilege against
compelled self-incrimination; and the right to legal advice, and addresses the
question: what are the permissible limits of intrusive searches?
Keywords Human rights; Forensic anthropology; Intrusive searches; Privacy;
Child sexual assault; Police powers
onsider the following scenarios:
•The police discover photographs on A’s mobile phone which show a
toddler being sexually assaulted. The only part of the perpetrator
which is visible is one of his hands.
•The police discover images on B’s computer which show the rape of a
baby. The only parts of the perpetrator which are visible are his
genitals.
Such crimes are difficult to prosecute; direct testimonial evidence from young
children as to the perpetrators’ identities can be difficult, and in the case of very
young children impossible, to obtain. Digital images of abuse are often uploaded
to websites and shared with others, frequently on a global scale.1Typically,
perpetrators are members of large, sometimes worldwide, paedophile rings
whose membership status depends upon the digital quality of the images they
can contribute as well as the severity of the abuse.2It is therefore in the perpetra-
tors’ interests to provide close-up imaging of intimate bodily contact. In the
context of internet child pornography, it is common for a perpetrator’s hand to
be visible and this may reveal distinct anatomical features and markings. Part 1
of this article describes newly developed techniques which have the potential to
compare the hands and/or genitals of a suspect with digital images of a perpe-
trator. The contribution the techniques have already made in specific court cases
is discussed, as is their potential in future cases. It also summarises some of the
legal issues raised by the procedures for gathering evidence to be used in these
techniques. The remaining parts of the article examine these issues in more
depth: Part 2 discusses general police powers of search and examination of
128 THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EVIDENCE & PROOF
DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN IDENTIFICATION TECHNIQUES: HUMAN RIGHTS IMPLICATIONS
C
1 In one recent Scottish case, police discovered nearly 125,000 indecent images of children: see HM
Advocate vRennie and Others, unreported, March 2009, discussed further below.
2 C. Money, ‘Legal Responses toNew Challenges in Child Protection’,Conference Paper given at Child
Exploitation: Legal Responses to New Challenges in Child Protection, Universityof Dundee, 2011.(Paper on
file with authors.)
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