Humanitarian action in academic institutions: a case study in the ethical stewardship of unidentified forensic cases
Forensic anthropologists are often responsible for the management of long-term unidentified individuals. Others have contextualised these decedents—many of whom likely belonged to socially, politically, and/or economically marginalised groups in life—as part of a larger identification crisis in the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University Press
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Forensic Sciences Research |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20961790.2022.2035063 |
| _version_ | 1797714443241521152 |
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| author | Justin Z. Goldstein Mariah E. Moe Emilie L. Wiedenmeyer Petra M. Banks Sophia R. Mavroudas Michelle D. Hamilton |
| author_facet | Justin Z. Goldstein Mariah E. Moe Emilie L. Wiedenmeyer Petra M. Banks Sophia R. Mavroudas Michelle D. Hamilton |
| author_sort | Justin Z. Goldstein |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Forensic anthropologists are often responsible for the management of long-term unidentified individuals. Others have contextualised these decedents—many of whom likely belonged to socially, politically, and/or economically marginalised groups in life—as part of a larger identification crisis in the United States. However, there has been little discussion surrounding how this humanitarian crisis has manifested in academic institutions, where anthropologists often provide medicolegal consultation and act as long-term stewards of the unidentified. The Identification & Repatriation Initiative was created at the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University (FACTS) to recognise and investigate unidentified human remains in long-term storage. Our paper outlines common challenges that were encountered during our initial reassessment of unidentified cases at FACTS, emphasising the detrimental impacts of inconsistent procedures, loss of context, and case fatigue. It is likely that other academic institutions face similar challenges, and by highlighting these issues we hope to help initiate a larger conversation concerning ethical stewardship of human remains in these settings. By incorporating humanitarian perspectives into forensic casework, anthropologists in academia can better advocate for the long-term unidentified.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/20961790.2022.2035063 . |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T07:52:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ace23cbf19bd40d884c3c50d20e21b37 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2096-1790 2471-1411 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T07:52:03Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Forensic Sciences Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-ace23cbf19bd40d884c3c50d20e21b372023-09-02T20:34:24ZengOxford University PressForensic Sciences Research2096-17902471-14112022-03-011810.1080/20961790.2022.2035063Humanitarian action in academic institutions: a case study in the ethical stewardship of unidentified forensic casesJustin Z. Goldstein0Mariah E. Moe1Emilie L. Wiedenmeyer2Petra M. Banks3Sophia R. Mavroudas4Michelle D. Hamilton5Department of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USADepartment of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USADepartment of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USADepartment of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USADepartment of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USADepartment of Anthropology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USAForensic anthropologists are often responsible for the management of long-term unidentified individuals. Others have contextualised these decedents—many of whom likely belonged to socially, politically, and/or economically marginalised groups in life—as part of a larger identification crisis in the United States. However, there has been little discussion surrounding how this humanitarian crisis has manifested in academic institutions, where anthropologists often provide medicolegal consultation and act as long-term stewards of the unidentified. The Identification & Repatriation Initiative was created at the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University (FACTS) to recognise and investigate unidentified human remains in long-term storage. Our paper outlines common challenges that were encountered during our initial reassessment of unidentified cases at FACTS, emphasising the detrimental impacts of inconsistent procedures, loss of context, and case fatigue. It is likely that other academic institutions face similar challenges, and by highlighting these issues we hope to help initiate a larger conversation concerning ethical stewardship of human remains in these settings. By incorporating humanitarian perspectives into forensic casework, anthropologists in academia can better advocate for the long-term unidentified.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/20961790.2022.2035063 .https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20961790.2022.2035063Forensic sciencesforensic anthropologyunidentified personslong-term unidentifiedidentificationacademic institutions |
| spellingShingle | Justin Z. Goldstein Mariah E. Moe Emilie L. Wiedenmeyer Petra M. Banks Sophia R. Mavroudas Michelle D. Hamilton Humanitarian action in academic institutions: a case study in the ethical stewardship of unidentified forensic cases Forensic Sciences Research Forensic sciences forensic anthropology unidentified persons long-term unidentified identification academic institutions |
| title | Humanitarian action in academic institutions: a case study in the ethical stewardship of unidentified forensic cases |
| title_full | Humanitarian action in academic institutions: a case study in the ethical stewardship of unidentified forensic cases |
| title_fullStr | Humanitarian action in academic institutions: a case study in the ethical stewardship of unidentified forensic cases |
| title_full_unstemmed | Humanitarian action in academic institutions: a case study in the ethical stewardship of unidentified forensic cases |
| title_short | Humanitarian action in academic institutions: a case study in the ethical stewardship of unidentified forensic cases |
| title_sort | humanitarian action in academic institutions a case study in the ethical stewardship of unidentified forensic cases |
| topic | Forensic sciences forensic anthropology unidentified persons long-term unidentified identification academic institutions |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20961790.2022.2035063 |
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