Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Understanding Human Migration Patterns and their Utility in Forensic Human Identification Cases

Abstract

Human migration patterns are of interest to scientists representing many fields. Theories have been posited to explain modern human evolutionary expansion, the diversity of human culture, and the motivational factors underlying an individual or group decision to migrate. Although the research question and subsequent approach may vary between disciplines, one thread is ubiquitous throughout most migration studies: why do humans migrate and what is the result of such an event? While the determination of individual attributes such as age, sex, and ancestry is often integral to migration studies, the positive identification of human remains is usually irrelevant. However, the positive identification of a deceased is paramount to a forensic investigation in which human remains have been recovered and must be identified. What role, if any, might the study of human movement patterns play in the interpretation of evidence associated with unidentified human remains? Due to increasing global mobility in the world's populations, it is not inconceivable that an individual might die far away from his or her home. If positive identification cannot immediately be made, investigators may consider various theories as to how or why a deceased ended up in a particular geographic location. While scientific evidence influences the direction of forensic investigations, qualitative evaluation can be an important component of evidence interpretation. This review explores several modern human migration theories and the methodologies utilized to identify evidence of human migratory movement before addressing the practical application of migration theory to forensic cases requiring the identification of human remains.

Why victimology should focus on all victims, including all missing and disappeared persons

“…It is thought that there are about 40,000 human trafficking victims registered each year and 27 million victims in total. Another major influence (Cox and Hammer, 2010) on the number of missing is migration (Holobinko, 2012; Jacobsen and Landau, 2003). In 2013, the number of international migrants rose to 232 million.…”

Przedsiębiorczość imigrantów w państwach UE i krajach OECD

“…Funkcjonujące obecnie teorie migracji podejmują próbę odpowiedzi na pytania: kto, dlaczego i gdzie migruje oraz jakie są następstwa tego procesu (Clark, 1986;J. Lucassen i in., 2010;Holobinko, 2012). Główne zainteresowania badawcze poruszające problematykę migracji odnoszą się do (Portes, Bach, 1985 za: Włoch, 2015):…”

Climate change as an incentive for future human migration

“…Climate change is expected to lead to higher temperatures and an altered hydrological cycle in the coming decades (McLeman and Hunter, 2010), and temperature and precipitation changes have been shown to influence human migration at the local to regional scale (Barrios et al, 2006;Black et al, 2011;Bohra-Mishra et al, 2014;Gray and Bilsborrow, 2013;Hsiang et al, 2013;Kelley et al, 2015;Marchiori et al, 2012;Mueller et al, 2014). Hsiang and Sobel (2016) examined the consequences of migration if everyone moved to remain at the same annual global mean temperature under a climate change scenario.…”