Developing innovative approaches to forensics

Overall, the EU-funded MEPROCS (New methodologies and protocols of forensic identification by craniofacial superimposition) project aimed to provide a common EU framework for widespread use of CS techniques.

Researchers began with a comprehensive analysis of methodologies currently used in CS forensic identification that resulted in a report describing current CS procedures, protocols and tools. A global list of users, researchers and laboratories that work on CS techniques was created.

Partners engaged relevant stakeholders to become part of the network, leading to the addition of six new members to MEPROCS. This promoted faster implementation of selected CS forensic identification methodologies.

The team established a set of standard protocols in order to apply CS to various forensic scenarios such as crime scenes, missing persons and terrorism. To this end, a survey on CS methods was carried out, an analysis of existing uses of CS techniques and associated procedures/protocols was performed, and a list of identification protocols for each scenario was created.

For the defined protocols to be effective, CS methods must be reliable. A forensic science methodology was developed to assess forensic identification results by preventing subjectivity and eliminating potential bias.

Based on all outcomes, a common EU framework for standardised craniofacial superimposition methods was created. Lastly, a detailed handbook on craniofacial superimposition is nearing completion and will be freely available on the project website.

MEPROCS introduced forensic medicine to novel methods for complex cases that can be applied throughout Europe without limitations. Researchers and practitioners can now use cheaper, faster, simpler and more reliable approaches to correctly identify the deceased.