Peruvian thanatoscape and posthumous biographies of prisoners: dispersion and re-appropriation of undesirable corpses.

This article examines the necropolitical significance of the posthumous biographies of the inmates who were executed in the repression of the Santa Barbara, Lurigancho, and El Frontón prison riots of 1986 in Lima. Of the estimated 250 victims, only 22 have been handed over to their families. The path taken by the bodies is traced, along with the means employed by state agents to conceal them. We then analyze the modalities of their recovery, identification, and return (or otherwise), beginning in the 2000s. We coin the concept of "thanatoscape" to evoke the places and dynamics of a landscape in flux, encompassing the physical circulation of the deceased and the associated imaginary. The material dimension of the body is considered, along with how it is created symbolically by society and power relations. We discuss the means used to justify and legitimize whether these mortal remains deserved to be properly mourned or would remain missing and deprived of the opportunity to receive funeral rites. The management of these undesirable bodies can be better understood by studying the process of "de-citizenization" to which prisoners held for terrorism-related offenses were subjected, and which also extends to their families.

The search process: Integrating the investigation and identification of missing and unidentified persons.

The effective search for the missing and identification of persons, alive or dead, are core components in the prevention and in resolving the issue of Missing Persons. Despite the growing literature on this topic, there is still a lack of publications describing the Search as a process that includes different phases inherently composed of forensic investigative and identification principles for both living and deceased missing persons. This paper is the result of discussions between the Forensic Unit of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and members of its external Forensic Advisory Board. It aims to present the Search process as an overarching concept that includes the investigation and identification phases of the missing in any state (dead or alive), in any scenario (with or without bodies), with an integrated, multidisciplinary, and multiagency approach for implementation by all actors involved in the investigation and identification phases of missing persons.

Recalibration of the Klales et al. (2012) method of sexing the human innominate for Mexican populations.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to test the accuracy of the Klales et al. (2012) equation for sex estimation in contemporary Mexican population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our investigation was carried out on a sample of 203 left innominates of identified adult skeletons from the UNAM-Collection and the Santa María Xigui Cemetery, in Central Mexico. The Klales' original equation produces a sex bias in sex estimation against males (86-92% accuracy versus 100% accuracy in females). Based on these results, the Klales et al. (2012) method was recalibrated for a new cutt-of-point for sex estimation in contemporary Mexican populations. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The results show cross-validated classification accuracy rates as high as 100% after recalibrating the original logistic regression equation. Recalibration improved classification accuracy and eliminated sex bias. This new formula will improve sex estimation for Mexican contemporary populations.

Variation of gunshot injury patterns in mortality associated with human rights abuses and armed conflict: an exploratory study.

UNLABELLED: The analysis of the distribution of gunshot injuries in a sample of 777 sets of human remains of proven human rights abuse from Somaliland, the Balkans and Peru is compared to frequencies of injuries sustained by combatants in contemporary conflicts reported in the literature. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) reduced the data to three components accounting for 82.94% of the variance. The first component with 38.31% of variance shows segments Arms and thorax/abdomen to be positively correlated (0.887 and 0.662, respectively); the segment head/neck is strongly correlated (0.951) to the second component while the segment thorax/abdomen shows a low, negative correlation (-0.388). Finally in the third component only the legs are strongly correlated (0.991). Data was further subjected to a K-means cluster analysis to determine the likely groupings combining the four types of injuries. Each of the three clusters reproduced similar patterns observed in the PCA: Cluster 1 shows the prevalence of injuries to the thorax/abdomen and extremities in addition to injuries to the head/neck; Cluster 2 shows injuries to the head/neck and Cluster 3 injuries to the thorax/abdomen and a lower representation of the arms and legs. Most of the cases (70.5%), irrespective of geography and type of site (attack or detention), were grouped into Cluster 2. Such comparison shows that in human rights abuse, irrespective of their geography, gunshot injuries tend to follow a pattern favouring the head/neck and thorax/abdomen areas over the extremities, the reverse pattern observed in contemporary combat operations. In those settings gunshot wound trauma is the second cause of mortality/morbidity (after fragmenting ammunition) and its distribution concentrates on the extremities, thorax/abdomen and head; following the pattern of protective armour when it is used. Considering that human rights abuses are often presented as encounters between two armed groups in the context of counter-insurgency operations, a careful analysis of gunshot injury patterns could serve as an indicator that in fact murder, rather than combat, took place and the intention was to kill rather than to maim or render people unfit for battle. OBJECTIVE: To compare the variation of gunshot injury patterns between mortality associated with human rights abuses and armed conflict in selected samples from different countries. DESIGN: Literature review and case analysis. SETTINGS: Original statistical analysis of gunshot injuries on human remains (n=777) recovered from mass or clandestine graves associated with human rights abuses in countries in Somaliland, the Balkans and Peru (1983-1995) and literature review of mortality caused by armed conflicts. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Mechanism of gunshot injury and wound distribution pattern in geographically diverse samples of human rights abuse.

When DNA is not available, can we still identify people? Recommendations for best practice.

Recommendations of best practice to conduct identifications in settings with large numbers of victims and technological limitations are provided, based on a sample of 116 cases in which positive presumptive identifications were generated using "traditional" techniques, and were later corroborated through DNA testing. Traditional techniques generally consist of combining witness testimony, personal effects and clothing, anthropological and dental data to corroborate or to exclude the identity of an individual. Experts participating in traditional identifications must develop emic categories to transform objective physical features into recognizable categories by the family, or to do very the opposite-to develop an ethic system by which the expert translates the cues given by a family member into objective categories that are usable in standard forensic and legal contexts.