CHAPTER 3

MEDICO-LEGAL
ASPECTS OF
IDENTIFICATION

MEDICO-LEGAL ASPECTS OF
IDENTIFICATION
- determination of the individuality of a
person/thing

Importance of identifying a person:

1. In the prosecution of a crime, the identity of
the offender and victim must be
established,otherwise it will be a ground for
the dismissal of the charge or acquittal of the
accused
2. Settlement of estates, retirement, insurance

3. Resolves anxiety of the next-of-kin, other

relatives and friends as to the whereabouts of
a missing person or victim of calamity or
criminal act.
4. In some transactions sale of property,
release of dead body to relatives, entering a
premise,delivery of parcels/registered mails in
post office,etc

Rules in personal
identification:
1. Law of multiplicity of evidence in
identification greater number of
similarities/dissimilarities of two persons
compared, the greater the probability for the
conclusion to be correct
2. Value of different points of identification
fingerprints
, moles
*Visual recognition of relatives lesser
value than fingerprints/dental comparison

3.The longer interval between death the more

experts are needed in establishing the
identity.
4.The team to act in shortest time because it is
perishable, specially in cases of mass disaster.
5. No rigid rule in the procedure of identification
of the person.

Methods of identification:
1. By comparison Id found in the crime

scene compared with the file, or postmortem

finding are compared with ante-mortem
record
2. By exclusion

IDENTIFICATION OF
PERSONS
A. Ordinary methods of
identification(laymen/no special
training/skill required)
1. Characteristics
which may easily be changed:
a) growth of hair, beard ,mustache
b) clothing
c) frequent place of visit
d) grade of profession
e) body ornamentation

2. Characteristics that may not easily be

changed:
a) mental memory
( f) hands and feet
b) speech
( g) complexion
c) gait
(h) changes in
the eyes
d) mannerism
(i) facies (facial
expressions)
e) handedness-left /right ( j) degree of
nutrition

Points of identification
applicable to both living and
dead before onset of
Decomposition:
1. Occupational marks painters have stains
2. Race: Malayan: brown, flat nose round face,
Round head, Wearing apparel
3 .Stature: Tips of middle fingers of both hands
extended laterally approx =height
4. Tattoo marks
5. Weight not good point changes from time
to time

6. Deformities-cong /acquired
7. injuries leaving permanent deformities
8. Birth marks
9. Moles
10. scar-remaining mark after wound healing

Age of Scar:
Recently formed: Slightly
elevated, reddish/bluish, tender
to touch
Few week-2 months:
Inflammatory
redness,
soft, sensitive
2 6 months: brownish, free
from
contraction, soft
> 6 months: white,
glistening,
contracted,

Scar formation is delayed by: sepsis, age,

depth of wound, mobility
May not develop small, superficial, healed
by first intention.
11. Tribal marks
12. Sexual organs
13.blood exam

ANTHROPOMETRY ( BERTILLON
SYSTEM) Alphonse Bertillon( French
criminologist)
- utilizes anthropometrical measurement of the
human body for identification.
-Basis:
1. Human skeleton is unchangeable after 20th year
2. No two human beings have exactly the same
bones.
3. Use of simple instrument for necessary
measurement

Information included in the

system
1. Descriptive data color of hair, eyes,
shape of nose, complexion, ears, etc.
2. Body marks-moles, scars, tattoo marks,
deformities, etc.
3. Anthropometric measurement
a) body measurements-ht, width of
outstretched arms, and sitting ht.
b) head measurement
c) limbs measurement

Portait Parle

( spoken picture) verbal,

accurate, and pictures - que description of a
person identified
-info given by persons who are acquainted w/
the physical features of the person to be
identified
-basic requirements included in the verbal
description

Extrinsic factors in
identification:
1.ornamentation
2.personal belongings
3.wearing apparel
4.foreign bodies
5.identification by close friends, police records,
photographs

Light as a factor in identification:

1. Clearest moonlight/starlight=
Moon light-Less than 16-17 yards Starlight =
Less than10-13 yards
a) Broad daylight
Not farther than 100 yards not seen before
Almost strangers =recognized at 25 yards
b) Flash of firearm
2 inches letters can be read with the aid of
the flash of .22 caliber at a distance of 2 feet

c). Flash of lightning sufficient

light to identify provided that the
person's eyes is focused towards
the individual he wishes to id
during the flash
d) Artificial light relative to the
kind and intensity of light

B. Scientific methods of
identification
1) Fingerprinting
2) Dental identification
3) handwriting
4) Identification of skeleton
5) Determination of Sex, Age
6) Identification of blood, blood stains
7) Identification of hair, fibers

FINGERPRINTING
> most valuable method of
identification.
> No two identical fingerprints
1: 64,000, 000, 000
> Not changeable
***4 th
month fingerprints are formed in
the fetus

Practical uses

Identity

of dead bodies/unknown/missing

persons

Prints recovered at crime scene associate

person/weapon

Prints on file are useful for comparison and

for the knowledge of previous criminal
records

Right thumb print is substitute for signature

on documents esp. among illiterates

Fingerprints cant be
effaced:
as long as the dermis of the
bulbs of the finger is not
completely destroyed,
fingerprints will remain
unchanged /indestructible

DENTAL IDENTIFICATION
= possibility of 2 persons to
have the same is remote
= enamel is the hardest
substance of the body, outlast
other tissues during
putrefaction/physical destruction
***PD no. 1575-requiring
practitioners of dentistry to keep
records of their px

***adult: 32 teeth
9 yo-12 permanent teeth(8 incisors & 4
molars)
11yo-20(8I,8PM,4M)
13yo-28 and no deciduous teeth
8-10yo-calcification begins at 3rd molar
25yo-root ends of 3rd molar completely
calcified
>30yo-carries freq. develop at the
cementum

IDENTIFICATION OF THE SKELETON

*in bone exam, the ffng. pts can be determined
approx:
a) human original or not
b) single person or not
c) ht
d) sex
e) race
f) age
h) length of interment/length of time from date of
death
i) +/- of antemortem /post mortem bone injuries
j) Cong. deformities & acq. injuries on the hard
tses causing permanent deformities

* human shape, size, general nature esp.

the head(oval/round shape, less prominent
lower jaw and nasal bone)
* single individual plurality or excess of
bones
* Height add 1 to 1 in. for the soft
tissues to the actual length of the skeleton

*Pearsons formula for the

reconstruction of the living stature of long
bones

* Topinard and Rollet

= two French anatomist devised a formula for
the determination of the height for males and
females.

* Humphreys table
= Table of different height of bones for
different ages and their corresponding statures.

* Manouvrier made the following co-efficient

for the determination of height.
-based on length of tibia,fibula,radius&ulna

Determination of sex of the

skeleton:
a) Pelvis
b) Skull
c) Sternum
d) Femur
e) Humerus

Difference between
Male

PELVIS

Female

1) Construction
Lighter
Wall
Less pronounced
2) Height
Lesser
3) Pubic arch
Wider/rounder
4) Diameter of the true pelvis
Greater

Heavier

More pronounced

Greater
Narrow & less round
Less

5) Curve of iliac crest

Lower level
6) Greater Sciatic notch
Wide
7) Body of pubis
Wider

Reaches higher level

Narrow
Narrow

CRANIUM

MALE
FEMALE

1) Shaft

less curve
more curve

2) Mastoid process
smaller

larger

3) cranium placed horizontally rest on

process
bones
4) Styloid process
longer/slender

mastoid
occipital&maxillary
shorter

5).Forehead
oblique
less high,
vertical

higher, more
more

6) Superciliary ridges
sharp, more rounded

less
sharper

7) Zygomatic arches
prominent
less

more
prominent

Determination of the duration of

interment:
- All soft tissues in a grave disappear within one
year.
*Basis of the estimate from duration of
interment:
1) Presence or absence of soft tissue adherent to
the bones.
2) Firmness and weight, brittleness, dryness of the
bones.
3) Degree of erosion of the surface of the bones.
4) Changes in the clothings, coffin, and painting.

IDENTIFICATION OF SEX
Test to determine the sex:
1) Social test
2) Genital test
3) Gonadal test
4) Chromosomal test barr cells in
females

Chromosomal test barr cells in females

*Evidences of sex:
1.) Presumptive evidence
= General features, hair in some parts

* Transvertism

sexual deviation by
desire to assume the attire and be accepted
as a member of the opposite sex.
2.) Highly probable
= vagina, large breast, uterus, penis,
muscular dev't and distribution of fat in the
body
3.) Conclusive evidence
= ovary in females ,testis in male

* Transvertism

Evidence of sex in
mutilated/decomposed body
1) gen physical& muscular dev't
hairiness:scalp,face,chest,pubes and other
parts of the body
2) adam's apple prominency
3) amt of subQ fat in specific parts of the body
4)( +) of linea albicantes, enlarged nipple,
cutex in fingernails, lipstick/coloring materials
5)( + )of prostate gland/uterus& ovary

6. DETERMINATION OF AGE
Legal importance
a) Aid to identification
b) Determination of criminal liability
c) Determination of right of suffrage
d) Determination whether a person can
exercise civil rights
e) Determination of the capacity to marriage
f) Requisite to certain crimes
1. rape
2. infanticide
3. seductions:qualified/simple
g) consented abduction

Determination

of age of fetus:
*Hesss rule or Haases rule
a) Fetus of less than 25 cm long(crownfeet length)- get square root of
length in cm, result in age of fetus in
months
b) > 25 cm- divide the length of the
fetus by 5 and the result is the age in
month.
*lunar mo=28 days

7. IDENTIFICATION OF BLOOD AND

BLOOD STAINS
Legal importance:

a) Disputed parentage(maternity/paternity)
b) Circumstantial evidence against perpetrator
of a crime
c) Determination of the cause of death
d) Determination of the direction of the escape
e) Determination of the appropriate time crime
was committed
f) Determination of the place of the crime
g) Determination of the presence of certain
diseases.

Physical examination
a) Solubility test
-recent blood shed is soluble, and imparts
bright red color
b) Heat test
-muddy ppt
c) Luminescence test: 3 amino-phtalic-acid
hydrazide-HCL,
d) Sodium peroxide , distilled water
> Bluish-white luminescence in a dark room

SOLUBILITY TEST

HEAT TEST

LUMINESCENCE TEST

SODIUM PEROXIDE : BLUISH

WHITE LUMINESCENCE IN DARK
ROOM

Chemical examination:
a) Saline extract of the blood plus
ammonia brownish tinge> due to
alkaline hematin form'n
b) Benzidine test blue color in white
filter paper dropped w/ benzidine rgt
c) Guaiacum test ( Van Deens Dyas or
Schombeins test) - blue color on white
filter paper
d) Phenolpthalein test ( Kastle-Meyer
test) - pink color
e) Leucomalachite Green test-bluishgreen/peacock blue

GUAIACUM TEST

PHENOLPTHALINE TEST

LEUCOMALACHITE GREEN TEST

Microscopic examinations
- saline extract of stain examined under the
microscope
Micro-chemical tests:
1.) Hemochromogen crystal or
Takayama test:
-crystals varying from salmon color to dark
brown and pink,/c are irregular
rhomboids/in clusters may be seen(+ to
any subs contng hgb
2.) Teichmanns blood crystals or Hemin
crystal test= Sodium chloride dark brown rhombic
prisms of chloride of hematin formed

Spectroscopic examination
=blood pigments have the
power to absorb light of certain
length and produce the
characteristic absorption bands
on the spectrum.
= Fresh blood oxyhgb, Hgb,
reduced hematin
= older stains methemoglobin,
alkaline hematin

Fresh blood oxyhgb, Hgb,

reduced hematin

older stains methemoglobin,

alkaline hematin

Biologic examinations
1) Precipitin test blood is human or not
2) Blood grouping- 4 human blood principal
blood groups

Age of blood stains:

> Hgb converted to Methgb of hematin - red
to reddish-brown
> warm weather- within 24 hours

PRECIPITIN TEST

BLOOD GROUP TEST

AGE OF BLOOD STAIN

8. IDENTIFICATION OF HAIR
AND FIBERS
Differences between hair forcibly
extracted and naturally shed hair:
bulb is irregular , undulating
surface, excrescence of diff, size
and shape

HAIR
HUMAN
ANIMAL
Medulla

1. Air network
In fine grains
- large or
small
sack
2. Cells
Invisiblew/out tx in H2O - Easily visible
3. Fuzz w/out medulla
- Fuzz w/ medulla

HUMAN
ANIMAL
Cortex
1. Looks like a thick muff
- Fairly thin hollow
cylinder
2. Pigments in the form of fine grains irregular
grains, larger
than humans

Cuticle
1. thin scales,not protruding
scale,protruding

thick

Thank you