The occurrence of Japanese trophy skulls in the United States

The skulls of two Japanese soldiers brought back to the United States following World War II suggest that more may be appearing in forensic science cases. Both cases are cranial vaults without faces or lower jaws. One was a fighter pilot. Both skulls have secondary characteristics of "dry house dust" adhering to the bone and have, to some degree, been painted.     

Metropolitan Forensic Anthropology Team (MFAT) case studies in identification: 2. Identification of a Vietnamese trophy skull

A Vietnamese trophy skull, apparently a victim of the Vietnam war, was recently received for analysis in a New York State homicide case. The skull, which is well preserved except for the missing mandible and maxillary dentition, is compared to trophy skulls of Japanese military personnel, also brought back to the United States by American soldiers following wartime duty in Asia.     

Identification of skulls by video superimposition

A method of matching skulls with photographic portraits or impressions of the face in clay by video superimposition is described. Two different practical cases are presented. The first one deals with the identification of a skull of a six-year-old girl, the second with the identification of the skull of the famous Swiss Pedagogue Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who died about 160 years ago. The advantages and versatility of this method are shown; also the setup of the equipment and the working technique.     

西南地区成人男性颅骨的相关回归分析

目的研究颅骨部分测量指标间的相关性,以期建立在对破损颅骨进行颅骨面貌复原时,利用尚存指标推断缺失指标的方法。方法用人体骨骼测量仪对41个男性颅骨的颅长、颅宽、颅高等14个指标进行测量,将测量值输入SPSS统计软件,找出相关性好的指标,建立各指标间相互推断的回归方程。结果部分测量指标间呈中度以上相关,应用逐步回归的方法得出回归方程24个,方差检验均具统计学意义(P<0.01)。结论本研究所建立的回归方程可为法医人类学和考古人类学的颅骨修复提供备选方法。     

Mummified trophy heads from Peru: diagnostic features and medicolegal significance

Several forms of mummified human trophy heads were produced by prehistoric and historic native groups in South America. This paper describes the diagnostic features of trophy heads produced by the Nasca culture of ancient Peru. A growing interest in these mummified heads among collectors of Pre-Columbian art and antiquities has led to their illegal exportation from Peru, in violation of national and international antiquities laws. Requests from the Peruvian government to protect its cultural patrimony led the United States in 1997 to declare these heads as items subject to U.S. import restriction, along with six other categories of human remains. Despite such restrictions, Nasca trophy heads continue to reach private collectors outside of Peru and thus may be encountered by local, state, or federal law enforcement officials unfamiliar with their characteristic features and origin. The objective of this paper is to describe the features that allow Nasca trophy heads to be identified and distinguished from other archaeological and forensic specimens that may be submitted to a forensic anthropologist for identification.     

Possiblities of craniofacial identification from incomplete and damaged skulls

With the aim of development criteria for assessment of results of personal identification with the use of the method of photo superposition of incomplete and damaged skulls at initial stages of our work, the frequency of submission of such skulls to examination was determined. Main groups of skull defects were determined, and identification results subject to each defect were estimated; which gave conclusion that presence or absence of one or another defect did not impede photo superposition. Signs, which most frequently were crucial for final result of identification, were determined. Analysis of obtained data show that the more number of crucial signs will be taken into account at personal identification, all the more with incomplete skulls, the more valid result will be obtained.     

The positioning and magnification of faces and skulls for photographic superimposition

In the identification of persons living or dead, or of skulls, the technique of photographic superimposition of laboratory images on existing original portraits has frequently been used. The applicability of the technique and the confidence in the results have always depended very much on the professional acceptance and experience of forensic specialists. Defined preconditions, improved methods and clear-cut directions on how to posture the head or the skull and how to magnify its photographic laboratory image, not only help to standardize and simplify procedures, but also increase the accuracy and credibility of the resulting diagnoses. A systematic approach with standard photographic equipment is presented. The validity of the results is discussed.     

Sex diagnosis of Chinese skulls using multiple stepwise discriminant function analysis.

Sixty Chinese skulls (30 males and 30 females) from Liaoning Province of the People's Republic of China were used in this study. Forty-one variables on each skull were measured and one group of 14 and a second group of 5 variables were selected from all the variables by applying multiple stepwise regression on a computer. Discriminant equations for the 14 and 5 variables for sex diagnosis have been obtained and these variables are highly significant. The discriminant rate for the group of 5 variables resulted in accurate sex determination in 96.7% of cases. For the group of 14 variables there was 100% success rate.     

越南乡规民约的法社会学解析

越南乡规民约是基于越南乡村这一特定区域内人们的共同意志,在生产、生活的实践中形成的,由乡民自愿遵行以调节乡民之间关系的行为规范。它具有突出的自发性、民间性、地域性特征,国家的指导或批准程序并非其必要属性。越南乡规民约产生于乡土社会,规范、体现着乡土社会的秩序,只要乡土社会存在,乡规民约就有了存在、深入发展的可能性和必要性,而不是被消融,甚或否弃。在乡土社会中,乡规民约表征着乡民自治。随着国家社会保障体制的完善,城乡二元结构的松懈,越南乡规民约在内容、作用不断完善的同时,调整的范围必将日益缩小。     

Independent instances of "souvenir" Asian skulls from the Tampa Bay area

In the summer of 1984, police in Pinellas County, Florida, confiscated six identically colored imported Asian skulls (in a shipping case) from a private citizen. In May 1988, in nearby Hillsborough County, police confiscated a very similar skull from another private citizen, who allegedly had found it in an abandoned house. Aside from slight color differences between the six found in Pinellas County and the one found in Hillsborough County, the skulls are virtually identical in their osteological characteristics and condition and in the vital statistics derived from each. Each skull is as clean and dry as those typically sold by commercial scientific supply outlets in the United States. Each is edentulous (primarily premortem), between approximately 20 and 60 years of age at death, and morphologically Asian. Five of the seven are morphologically male, one is morphologically female, and one is a mosaic with respect to gender-related features. Police, medical examiners, coroners, and forensic anthropologists should be aware of such "souvenir" specimens, in the event that they encounter similar skulls. Discriminant function analyses for race and sex yield considerably conflicting results, which underscores the need for using extreme caution when interpreting forensic science estimates based on such techniques.     

Alcoholism Level Differences between Vietnamese Batterers and Non-Batterers

Frequency of alcohol consumption and alcoholism levels were compared between Vietnamese batterers and non-batterers. A sample of 200 Vietnamese men was administered a self-reported questionnaire which combined the Conflict Tactics Scale 2 and the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test. Results of the study revealed statistical significant differences between the two groups regarding frequency of alcohol consumption and alcoholism levels. However, through logistic regression analysis, it was found that participants’ frequency of alcohol consumption and alcoholism levels were not statistically significant in predicting battering among Vietnamese men. An erratum to this article can be found at     

越南外国投资优惠法律政策研究

越南是我国企业进军东盟的必由之路.自越南改革开放以来,越南的外商投资的法律不断得以完善,投资程序日趋简化,投资环境日益宽松,投资优惠政策也增多.外资在越南投资前景广阔.     

Methods of making the plaster copies of skulls for the medical and criminalistic identification of individuals

A possibility was studied to use the plaster copies of skulls in the forensic medical identification of personality by applying the craniofacial method. No dependence was found between the plaster casts and the moulding types. Differences between the same craniometric sizes in the skull and in its cast are of an incidental nature. Such incidental deviation is related with an accuracy of determining the localization of craniometric points and with an instrumental precision of measuring devices. The necessity is substantiated that, while making a craniofacial examination, it is necessary to mark all anthropometric points in the skull cast, with the original being a control. The use of a plaster skull cast is possible in those cases, when the burial of the remains must be done in full.     

Unidentified bodies/skulls found in Danish waters in the period 1992-1996.

In the period 1992-1996 a total of 89 unidentified bodies/skulls found in Danish waters were investigated at the three University Institutes of Forensic Medicine in Denmark. Males constituted 79% of the total material. Open water was the finding place in half the cases, about one-fourth was found on shore and another fourth in a harbor basin. Totally 73 bodies and one skull were identified. Danes constituted 57% of the material. Almost all non-Danes originated from countries with borders to the waters surrounding Denmark. The cause of death was in 71% stated as presumably/possibly drowning, in 5% as severe lesions (precipitation) and in 25% it could not be solved. The manner of death was in non-Danes most often stated as an accident (56%), and according to this the finding place in non-Danes most frequently was the open water (66%). In Danes suicide predominated (71%) and the finding place in Danes was almost equally distributed among open water, shores and harbors, respectively. Among the totally 74 identified cases, 83% of the total material, an initial suggestion of the identity based on effects found on the body was possible in 43 cases (58%). The final identification was performed by means of forensic dental examination in total 58 cases (78%), in Danes in 93% and in non-Danes in 59%. In the remaining 16 cases one or more of the following contributed to the final identification: information about dental condition, clothing, personal papers, X-ray photos, jewelry, tattoos/scars and fingerprints. The importance of a close collaboration between the police, the forensic pathologist and the forensic dental expert in order to reach a fair number of positive identifications is emphasized.     

Cranio-facial morphanalysis: a new method for enhancing reliability while identifying skulls by photo superimposition

Skull-photograph superimposition continues to be the most prevalent method employed for identifying a skull recovered in a criminal case as that belonging to a putative victim whose face photograph is available. The reliability of identification achieved has been shown to be 91%, indicating the possibility of a skull mismatching with a face photograph belonging to a person other than the actual deceased. This lack of reliability dampens the confidence of the expert and in turn confounds the mind of the judge. It has been shown that the variations in the shape of the facial organs are influenced by the corresponding variations in the skeletal elements of the facial skull. "Cranio-facial morphanalysis", a new anthroposcopic method proposed here for evaluating the shape correlations between a skull and a face photograph, when applied conjointly with skull-photograph superimposition is shown to increase the reliability in forensic skull identification.     

自杀方式与性别和年龄关系548例分析

目的分析国内5个城市地区采取不同自杀方式人群的性别和年龄特征。方法收集上海、金华、武汉、娄底、都匀城市地区警方处理的548例自杀案例,根据自杀方法将案件进行分类,研究各种自杀方法的人群年龄和性别特征,结果在各种自杀方式的年龄分析中,高坠和自缢的自杀者平均年龄最大(约55岁),溺水、自缢次之(约49岁)、口服毒物较为年轻(约45岁),而CO中毒自杀者平均年龄最小(约37岁)。在自杀方式的性别差异中,男性更多地出现了锐器自杀(52:24),自缢(67:33)和高坠(55:45),女性则在溺水自杀中占据多数(58:42)。结论每种自杀方式涉及到的人群的性别和年龄特征差异明显,CO中毒自杀的自杀者最为年轻;男性更倾向于用机械性损伤的方式来自杀。     

Crime networks in Vietnamese diasporas. The Czech Republic case

The study seeks to analyse the structure and “modus operandi” of crime networks in the Czech Republic′s Vietnamese diaspora. Vietnamese criminality in the country has roots in communist era. After the democratic changes at the end of 80s, it has been representing dynamically developing phenomena, penetrating not only the local Vietnamese emigrant community but the state apparatus as well. Actually, the Vietnamese criminal underground lives in a specific symbiosis with the local Asian emigrant community, where legal and illegal activities are frequently merged together. “Respectable men” who have features of both legal businessmen and criminal bosses are the main actors in these processes. They create parallel power structures in closed worlds of Asian emigrants.