Forensic Identification: Putting a Name and Face on Death

Murray, Elizabeth A.

ISBN 10: 0761366962 ISBN 13: 9780761366966

Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books, 2012

Synopsis

About 4,000 unidentified deceased persons are discovered in the United States every year. But forensic experts are successful in identifying about 3,000 of those bodies within a year. In Forensic Identification: Putting a Name and Face on Death, forensic anthropologist Dr. Elizabeth A. Murray takes readers into the morgues and forensic labs where experts use advanced technology to determine the identities of dead bodies whose names are not known because the bodies are mutilated, decomposed beyond recognition, or cut into pieces. She also explores what happens to the bodies and remains that belong to people who have been missing for so long that law enforcement and forensic files are no longer active.

Through a wide range of fascinating scientific methods—including DNA testing, facial reconstruction, dental records, blood analysis, fingerprinting, and X-rays—forensic specialists work to piece together the stories that will give names back to the unknown dead and missing. Come along to watch the experts do their amazing work.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Elizabeth Murray has been an educator and a forensic scientist for more than twenty-five years. Her primary teaching focus is human anatomy and physiology and forensic science. She is one of only about seventy anthropologists certified as an expert by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. Dr. Murray was scientific consultant and on-camera personality for the miniseries Skeleton Crew for the National Geographic Channel and a regular cast member on the Discovery Health Channel series Skeleton Stories. She has written and delivered a 36-lecture series, Trails of Evidence: How Forensic Science Works, produced on DVD by The Teaching Company s The Great Courses. Dr. Murray is also the author of Death: Corpses, Cadavers, and Other Grave Matters for teen readers.

Reviews

If one were to judge from the slate of current television shows, it would seem that there is no limit to this topic’s popularity. In a straightforward, no-nonsense manner, this focuses on how forensic scientists are able to solve the mystery of human remains that are not easily identifiable. While the text is detailed, it is contained to four brief chapters. Meanwhile, plenty of illustrative photographs and diagrams lead readers through the minutely detailed techniques that forensic anthropologists, artists, odontologists, and pathologists use, often working with only skeletal remains, to uncover the identities of individuals. Each chapter opens with two real-life, attention-grabbing “case studies,” which set the scene before actually delving into the specific steps taken by specialists. The resolutions of the case files at the end of each chapter provide a satisfying wrap-up while demonstrating how the process explained in that chapter is used to solve the case. A smart and interactive introduction to the CSI field. Grades 7-10. --Randall Enos

Edition details

• Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0761366962
• ISBN 13: 9780761366966
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 72