The Role of the Anthropologist in Identification at Two Urban Medical Examiner Offices: New York City and Harris County

Abstract

Two urban jurisdiction medical examiner offices, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (NYC OCME) and the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences (HCIFS), receive large numbers of unidentified decedents each year. In 2015, the NYC OCME received over 400 decedents whose identities were initially reported as unknown. The HCIFS received 226 unknown decedent cases in 2015. These offices have faced similar challenges in the past when pursuing identification of long-term and otherwise complex identification cases. Within the past decade, the NYC OCME and HCIFS have successfully integrated forensic anthropologists into their offices to supervise routine identifications, direct resolution efforts in complex identification cases, manage disaster victim identification efforts, and organize community outreach events focused on identification. Accordingly, the NYC OCME and HCIFS anthropologists have successfully streamlined identification procedures to make them more efficient for all cases, and increased identifications of completely unknown individuals, effectively discharging the statutory responsibility held by the Chief Medical Examiner for decedent identification.