Forensic Magazine® is among today's leading trade publications focusing exclusively on the field of forensics.

Published 6 times a year, it has been hailed by industry experts as an authoritative, trusted publication. Designed to help forensics specialists keep current with today's demands, each issue features valuable trade tips, invigorating articles and more.

Forensic Magazine® (ISSN 1553-6262) is published bi-monthly by Vicon Publishing, Inc., 4 Limbo Lane, Amherst, NH 03031. USPS 023-655 Periodicals Postage Paid at Amherst, NH 03031 and at additional mailing office. A requester publication, Forensic Magazine® is distributed to qualified subscribers. Non-qualified subscription rates in the U.S and Canada: $120 per year. All other countries: $180 per year, payable in U.S. funds. Back issues may be purchased at a cost of $15 each in the U.S. and $20 elsewhere.

While every attempt is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its employees cannot accept responsibility for the correctness of information supplied, advertisements or opinions expressed. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Forensic Magazine,® 4 Limbo Lane, Amherst, NH 03031.

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FROM THE EDITOR: Identifying the Dead

A name is a funny thing. We are given our names by our parents. Sometimes our names seem almost arbitrary; sometimes, they carry family heritage; often, they tell of our ethnicity. Throughout our lives, many of us change our names – taking the name of a spouse, using a nickname, or the like. No matter how the name we use came about, it identifies us – it provides for us and others, our place in humanity.

How often does our perception of someone change once we know his or her name? Compare your thoughts upon reading an account of an accident in the newspaper where a victim is described by his age and ethnicity, pending notification of next of kin, to the follow up in the next day’s paper where the victim is identified by name. Suddenly the facts of the story no longer center on a victim, but a person – someone you identify by name and often picture in your mind.

David Hagy’s article in this issue (see page 27) on the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ’s) databases containing records on unidentified human remains and missing persons reports points out clearly the importance of trying to provide a name to all unidentified remains resting with medical examiners, coroners, and other government agencies. Not only does this work help to provide closure to cold cases and families searching for answers, but it also reminds us that our society is one of individuals who are uniquely respected.

In a case we profiled in our June/July 2007 issue, Paul Dostie, a Detective from Mammoth Lakes, California, spent four years trying to identify a murder victim. His work is not only an example of bringing many science disciplines together to solve a puzzle, but also the tenacity it sometimes takes to give a name to a victim.

We know that as the science of identification evolves, we improve our ability to name the unidentified. The Center for Human Identification at the University of Texas Health Science Center, with support by the NIJ, is a national center providing scientific and technical support to law enforcement agencies, medical examiners, and crime labs throughout the country. CHI provides both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA testing to assist in identifying remains. The CHI also uses anthropological studies to determine cause and manner of death.

Additionally, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) works to identify the war dead. According to the website, www.jpac.pacom.mil, the mission of JPAC is “to achieve the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of the nation’s past conflicts.” JPAC identifies about six MIAs each month, but the process generally takes years.

Efforts to name the dead go on all over the United States – in smalltown police departments, state labs, medical examiner offices, universities, and even private agencies. They involve science and family and oftentimes luck and they involve dedicated staff whose mission is to bring closure to families and final resting places to the victims.

Chris Janson

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Forensics:

   1.  The art or study of formal debate; argumentation.
   2. The use of science and technology to investigate and establish facts in criminal or civil courts of law.

Forensic Magazine is a business-to-business magazine published by Vicon Publishing, Inc.

The first issue was published in Spring 2004.

It has a circulation of more than 8,000 print subscribers (BPA Worldwide Membership Applied For June 2006), plus digital subscribers.

Forensic Magazine is published six (6) times per year. It provides information on various aspects of forensic technology, products, equipment, and laboratory design to professionals who are responsible for forensic laboratories and crime scene investigation.

The editorial offices of the magazine are in Amherst, NH.

(From wikipedia, the free encyclopeida)

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