NTL Record

Title	Sex and race determination of crania by calipers and computer : a test of the Giles and Elliot discriminant functions in 52 forensic cases.
Record ID	39365
Personal Name Creator	Snow, Clyde C.; Bartman, Steve; Giles, Eugene; Young, Fontaine A.
Corporate Creator	Civil Aeromedical Institute
Corporate Contributor	United States. Office of Aviation Medicine
Publisher	Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
Publication Date	19790100
Language	English
Abstract	The Giles and Elliot discriminant functions diagnosing sex and race from cranial measurements were tested on a series of forensically examined crania of known sex and race. Of 52 crania of known sex, 46 (88%) were correctly diagnosed. Racial diagnoses were correct in 30 (71%) of 42 crania of known race. Analysis of the facial data indicates that most of the errors resulted from the misclassification of American Indian crania as White or Negro. This suggests that the temporally remote and geographically limited prehistoric Indian crania used in developing the functions do not provide a data base representative of the present-day U.S. American Indian population. Cranial size, age at death, and certain pathological conditions altering cranial form can also contribute to misdiagnoses of sex and /or race by the function. We conclude, that despite some shortcomings, the Giles and Elliot discriminant functions provide a useful tool in forensic anthropology.
Rosap ID	dot:21153
Rosap URL	https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/21153
TRT Terms	Skull; Anthropometry; Gender; Race; Forensic medicine; Detection and identification; Anthropology
General Subjects	Forensic anthropology; Craniometry; Calipers; Sex; Race; Discriminant analysis--Computer programs
Geographical Coverage	United States
Report Number	FAA-AM-79-2; DOT/FAA/AM-79/2
Resource type	Tech Report
URL	https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/39000/39300/39365/AM79-02.pdf
Format	PDF
Database	NTL Digital Repository