Estimation of stature from foot outline in adult Malaysian Malayalee ethnics for forensic investigation

Abstract

Identification is a key component in any forensic investigation. Estimation of stature is an identifying characteristics to solve the crime. Foot impression is known to be a valuable scientific evidence encountered in the scenes of crime. Examination of footprint helps in estimation of stature of an individual since there is a strong relationship exists between foot impression and stature. There are people who still have the habit of walking barefoot in Asian countries like Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Indonesia. The hard surfaces produce two-dimensional footprints while foot outline provides the size parameters of the fleshed bare foot and also represents the boundaries of the foot's impression in soft soil, mud, or any other substances that produces a three-dimensional foot impression. It is shown that very limited studies were conducted on stature estimation from foot outline measurements. It is important to note that racial and cultural aspects of foot morphology must be considered while conducting the foot impression study. Researchers have cautioned that regression equations derived to estimate stature from foot impression for a particular population is erroneous to apply for other populations. Thus the present investigation is aimed to derive linear regression equations to estimate stature from foot outlines of Malaysian Malayalee ethnics.

Determination of Stature From Handprint Anthropometry Among Malaysian Indians for Person Identification

“…In Malaysia the scenario is different. Malaysia comprises various ethnic groups, living in different states with similar cultures and languages, viz Malay [20] people, Chinese people [21], and Indian [18] people (with sub-ethnics groups viz.. Telugu [11], Tamil [19], Malayalee [22], Punjabi, Gujarathi etc) mostly living in West Malaysia and other indigenous ethnic groups like Iban [23], Bidayau [24], Melanau [25], Kadasan Dusun [26] Lun Bawang [27] who were settled at East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo. Thus this study developed population-specific regression equations to determine stature from handprints among Malaysian Indians and not Malaysians who are under mixed population.…”