TY  - JOUR
A1  - Holz, Franziska
A1  - Carrillo-Núñez, Gabriela Guadalupe
A1  - Martinez-Peña, Eddie Gibson
A1  - Rivera Martinez, Axel Alejandro
A1  - Peña Jiménez, Irma Guadelupe de la
A1  - Bonilla Virgen, Ramon
A1  - Verhoff, Marcel A.
A1  - Birngruber, Christoph Gerhard
T1  - A guide to classify tattoo motives in Mexico as a tool to identify unknown bodies
T2  - International journal of legal medicine
N2  - Justification: In Mexico, the number of unidentified bodies has been steadily rising for years. By now, more than 50,000 bodies are considered unidentified. Forensic laboratories that could perform comparative molecular genetic investigation are often overburdened and examinations can take months. Therefore, pragmatic approaches that can help to identify more unknown bodies must be sought. The increased use of distinctive physical features might be one, and the high rate of tattooed people in Mexico points towards a great potential of tattoos as a tool for identification. The prerequisite for a comparison of antemortem (missing persons) and postmortem (unknown bodies) data is an objective description of the particularities, e.g., of the tattoos. The aim of this study was to establish an objective classification for tattoo motives, taking into consideration local preferences.
Methods: In the database of the medicolegal services of the Instituto Jaliscience de Ciencias Forenses (IJCF) in Guadalajara, postmortem data of 1000 tattooed bodies from 2019 were evaluated. According to sex and age, the tattooed body localization and the tattoo motives were categorized.
Results: The 1000 tattooed deceased showed tattoos on 2342 body localizations. The motives were grouped and linked to the following 11 keywords (with decreasing frequency): letters/numbers, human, symbol (other), plant, symbol (religious), animal, object, fantasy/demon/comic, tribal/ornament/geometry, other, unrecognizable.
Conclusion: Using the proposed classification, tattoo motives can be described objectively and classified in a practical way. If used for antemortem (missing persons) and postmortem (unknown bodies) documentation, motives can be searched and compared efficiently—helping to identify unknown bodies.
KW  - Identification
KW  - Identifier
KW  - Body modification
KW  - Classification
KW  - DVI
KW  - Tattoo
Y1  - 2022
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/69586
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-695861
SN  - 1437-1596
N1  - Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. The research project was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the German Cooperation for Sustainable Development GmbH (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Foreign Office. Project ID (DAAD): 57594060.
VL  - 136
IS  - 4
SP  - 1105
EP  - 1111
PB  - Springer ; HeinOnline
CY  - Berlin ; Heidelberg ; Getzville, NY
ER  -