AGE ESTIMATION ON 2D IMAGES: APPLICATION OF THE METRICAL FACIAL APPROACH FOR THE ASCERTAINMENT OF AGE IN CASES OF SUSPECTED JUVENILE PORNOGRAPHY
Tesi di Dottorato
Data di Pubblicazione:
2013
Citazione:
AGE ESTIMATION ON 2D IMAGES: APPLICATION OF THE METRICAL FACIAL APPROACH FOR THE ASCERTAINMENT OF AGE IN CASES OF SUSPECTED JUVENILE PORNOGRAPHY / D.m. Gibelli ; tutor: C. Sforza; coordinatore: L. Vizzotto; supervisore: C. Cattaneo. UNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO, 2013 Jan 18. 25. ciclo, Anno Accademico 2012. [10.13130/gibelli-daniele-maria_phd2013-01-18].
Abstract:
Age estimation is one of the most difficult and sensitive procedure in forensic pathology, and is characterized by a long tradition and a number of fields of application: the most common cases of age estimation in the forensic scenario deal with dead people, and in detail with personal identification; however, in the last years, age estimation has begun to include also other forensic cases, especially within the so-called Clinical Forensic Medicine, which is the branch of forensic pathology dealing with the living, and consequent evaluation of clinical data for judicial purposes. The procedure of age estimation therefore is now applied to the living for the ascertainment of imputability before trial, or for the correct assignation of scholar classes of adopted children. In recent times, also the age estimation of the living adult, which in the most challenging and difficult field of application, has begun to be performed in order to verify the age of retirement, usually in old immigrants.
One of the most interesting phenomena recorded during this long evolution is the constant and progressive modification of methods of age estimation according to the specific field of application: some methods cannot be applied in specific cases, and this lack of tools has led to the evolution of new procedures, or the amelioration of the existing ones. However, the more specific the field of application, the fewer are the methods which can be applied. The extreme evolution of this phenomenon concerns the most recent field of application of age estimation in the living which deals with 2D images: the ascertainment of age in case of photos may be judicially important, since most Countries state the crime of juvenile pronography, which concerns all the images reproducing minors in a pornographic context. In these cases the forensic anthropologist may be requested to provide an age estimation of the persons in the photo: this is the final evolution of any procedure of age estimation, which has passed in the last year from the dead subject (where any investigative method is substantially allowed), to the living person (where only few methods can be applied) up to the image of the living person itself. One can clearly consider the pitfalls included in such as operation, since the forensic anthropologist or pathologist is usually requested to give an indication concerning the biological profile of a real person on his photos. If in case of the living age estimation has tried to change its methods, now with photos the forensic anthropologist faces a new challenge which consists not only in the development of new tools, but also in verifying if such analyses can be performed also in photos. The tasks are therefore two, and both of them difficult to achieve: the first one consists in finding biological information related with age, and the second in ascertaining if such information is also verifiable in photo. As one can imagine, the procedure of age estimation in cases of images faces new challenges, with new questions which are still waiting for an answer.
This study aims at exposing the results of different investigations performed during the PhD course, aimed at verifying the relation between facial measurements and age, in vivo and in photo: the line of research followed a project aiming first at ascertaining the reliability of linear measurements in photos, both for subjects aged under and above 18 year threshold, and then at verifying the chance of extrapolating new biological parameters from the face useful for age estimation. The first steps will consist in finding a standardization of facial metrical assessment by an analysis of reliability of collocation of facial landmarks. After this phase, the study will attempt at verifying the reliabili
Tipologia IRIS:
Tesi di dottorato
Elenco autori:
D.M. Gibelli
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