Forensic archaeology and anthropology in Brazil

Guimarães, Marco Aurélio; Francisco, R; Souza, Rafael de Abreu e; Evison, Martin

doi:10.1002/9781118745977.ch26

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Poor standards contributed to poor outcomes in investigations, frequently serving a dictatorial government. 43 In the opinion of Guimarães et al, 44 being the target of criticism or investigation. Political crimes could be hidden and members of the political opposition -mainly from left-wing political parties -could be "disappeared".'…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Procedural and political aspects of forensic exhumation in Brazil

Guimarães¹,

Francisco²,

Evison

et al. 2017

Human Remains and Violence: An Interdisciplinary Journal

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Exhumation may be defined as the legally sanctioned excavation and recovery of the remains of lawfully buried or – occasionally – cremated individuals, as distinct from forensic excavations of clandestinely buried remains conducted as part of a criminal investigation and from unlawful disinterment of human remains, commonly referred to as bodysnatching. The aim of this article is to review the role of exhumation – so defined – in the activities of CEMEL, the Medico-Legal Centre of the Ribeirão Preto Medical School-University of São Paulo, in international, regional and local collaborations. Exhumations form part of routine forensic anthropology casework; scientific research in physical and forensic anthropology; and forensic casework conducted in collaboration with the Brazilian Federal Police; and are carried out as part of humanitarian investigations into deaths associated with the civil–military dictatorship of 1964 to 1985. This article aims to offer a non-technical summary – with reference to international comparative information – of the role of exhumation in investigative and scientific work and to discuss developments in their historical and political context.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Procedural and political aspects of forensic exhumation in Brazil

Guimarães¹,

Francisco²,

Evison

et al. 2017

Human Remains and Violence: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Poor standards contributed to poor outcomes in investigations, frequently serving a dictatorial government. 43 In the opinion of Guimarães et al, 44 There is a common perception among representatives of families that these investigations are disorganised and are lacking not only resources but also in commitment from the Brazilian government. There is a further perception that the exhumations are no more than a political response to the judicial condemnation that the Brazilian State has received at national and international levels, rather than any real humanitarian interest in identification of remains and informing relatives of the victim's fate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forensic investigation, truth and trust in the context of transitional justice in Brazil

Guimarães¹,

Francisco²,

Garcia³

et al. 2017

Human Remains and Violence: An Interdisciplinary Journal

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Exhumation may be defined as the legally sanctioned excavation and recovery of the remains of lawfully buried or -occasionally -cremated individuals, as distinct from forensic excavations of clandestinely buried remains conducted as part of a criminal investigation and from unlawful disinterment of human remains, commonly referred to as 'bodysnatching'. The aim of this article is to review the role of exhumation -so defined -in the activities of CEMEL, the Medico-Legal Centre of the Ribeirão Preto Medical School-University of São Paulo, in international, regional and local collaborations. Exhumations form part of routine forensic anthropology casework; scientific research in physical and forensic anthropology; and forensic casework conducted in collaboration with the Brazilian Federal Police; and are carried out as part of humanitarian investigations into deaths associated with the civil-military dictatorship of 1964 to 1985. This article aims to offer a non-technical summary -with reference to international comparative information -of the role of exhumation in investigative and scientific work and to discuss developments in their historical and political context.

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“…There was little correlation between period of burial and age at death, however, suggesting taphonomic damage was not compromising only older material (see Supplementary Data Figure S2 Assessment of ancestry is widely understood to be problematic, even in apparently straight-forward cases (28). Assignment is complex, as a consequence of fundamental semantic and theoretical problems (44,45), and contemporary and historical admixture (15)(16)(17). It is this biographic parameter that was found most challenging with regard to adjustment of standard methods based on European and North American reference material for the Brazilian population (42).…”

Section: Reliabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is applied in routine criminal and civil investigations (10)(11)(12), as well as in inquiries relating to alleged human rights abuses that occurred during the dictatorship (13,14). Like many contemporary populations, the Brazilian population is demographically complex, resulting from migration and intermarriage arising from Native American, African, European, Middle Eastern and-more recently-Japanese settlement, which has considerable historic and prehistoric time depth, and varies substantially by region (15)(16)(17).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of a standard forensic anthropology examination protocol by measurement of applicability and reliability on exhumed and archive samples of known biological attribution

Francisco

Evison

Costa

et al. 2017

Forensic Science International

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Forensic anthropology makes an important contribution to human identification and assessment of the causes and mechanisms of death and body disposal in criminal and civil investigations, including those related to atrocity, disaster and trafficking victim identification. The methods used are comparative, relying on assignment of questioned material to categories observed in standard reference material of known attribution. Reference collections typically originate in Europe and North America, and are not necessarily representative of contemporary global populations. Methods based on them must be validated when applied to novel populations. This study describes the validation of a standardized forensic anthropology examination protocol by application to two contemporary Brazilian skeletal samples of known attribution. One sample (n=90) was collected from exhumations following 7-35 years of burial and the second (n=30) was collected following successful investigations following routine case work. The study presents measurement of (1) the applicability of each of the methods: used and (2) the reliability with which the biographic parameters were assigned in each case. The results are discussed with reference to published assessments of methodological reliability regarding sex, age and-in particular-ancestry estimation.

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Forensic archaeology and anthropology in Brazil

Cited by 5 publications

References 18 publications

Procedural and political aspects of forensic exhumation in Brazil

Procedural and political aspects of forensic exhumation in Brazil

Forensic investigation, truth and trust in the context of transitional justice in Brazil

Validation of a standard forensic anthropology examination protocol by measurement of applicability and reliability on exhumed and archive samples of known biological attribution

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