Just Leveraging Databases For Human Identification

In episode three of our Applications of Forensic Science for Human Identification season, Just Science sat down with Lori Bruski and Amy Jenkinson, two Research Public Health Analysts at RTI International, to discuss interagency efforts to compile crime, missing persons, and decedent information in comprehensive databases. In the digital age, criminal justice information can be uploaded into databases and organized in a searchable centralized location, making it more accessible than ever. These government databases act as computerized indices of information that law enforcement, medicolegal death investigators, and, in some cases, the general public can use to help identify unknown human remains and resolve missing persons cases. Listen along as Lori and Amy discuss the different databases available, where to access them, and how they can be leveraged for forensic science and human identification. This episode is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (Award No. 15PNIJ-21-GK-02192-MUMU).