Research into Age Estimation in the Living from Radiographs, DVI coordinator, and forensic case worker.

Research

There is a growing need for age estimation in the living and modern imaging methods allow the chronological age of an individual to be assessed from their skeletal maturity. The majority of age assessments are for individuals who are in late adolescence, into their early twenties. Age estimation involves comparing X-Rays and CT scans of the individual whose age is being questioned with reference X-Rays of children of known ages. The reference data was developed from longitudinal studies of children during the beginning of the 20^th Century. Since age estimations have to be robust enough to stand up to scrutiny by the courts it is vital that practitioners know how accurate the methods which they use are when applied to a modern population. This project explores the methods by which this assessment is made by examining the reference X-Rays and assessing their accuracy in relation to a Scottish population.  As a PhD student I am uniquely placed to undertake this research as I regularly undertake forensic age estimation case work and have passed the proficiency test set by AGFAD (Study Group on Forensic Age Diagnostics of the German Association of Forensic Medicine).