title: [Forensic age determination in living individuals at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Berlin (Charité): analysis of the expert reports from 2001 to 2007].
abstract: The analysis included the age reports provided by the Institute of Legal Medicine in Berlin (Charité) in the period from 2001 to 2007. A total of 416 age estimations were carried out, 289 in criminal and 127 in civil proceedings. 357 of the examined individuals were male, 59 were female. The vast majority of the individuals came from Vietnam. In 112 cases, there were no deviations between the indicated age and the estimated minimum age, while the actual age of the individuals was partly clearly above the estimated age. In 300 cases, there were discrepancies of up to 11 years between the indicated age and the estimated age. The study demonstrates that forensic age estimation in living individuals can make an important contribution to legal certainty.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Rechtsmedizin des Universitätsklinikum Münster.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Raidun
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Knüfermann
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsokos
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmeling
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000365:Age Determination by Skeleton; D000366:Age Determination by Teeth; D002648:Child; D002961:Civil Rights / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003415:Crime / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005104:Expert Testimony / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D005607:Fraud / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D033242:Minors / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012036:Refugees / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult