Department of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Kennedyallee 104, 60596, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany.
Departamento de Morfología, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.
Int J Legal Med. 2022 Jul;136(4):1105-1111. doi: 10.1007/s00414-022-02814-0. Epub 2022 Apr 4.
In Mexico, the number of unidentified bodies has been steadily rising for years. By now, more than 50,000 bodies are considered unidentified. Forensic laboratories that could perform comparative molecular genetic investigation are often overburdened and examinations can take months. Therefore, pragmatic approaches that can help to identify more unknown bodies must be sought. The increased use of distinctive physical features might be one, and the high rate of tattooed people in Mexico points towards a great potential of tattoos as a tool for identification. The prerequisite for a comparison of antemortem (missing persons) and postmortem (unknown bodies) data is an objective description of the particularities, e.g., of the tattoos. The aim of this study was to establish an objective classification for tattoo motives, taking into consideration local preferences.
In the database of the medicolegal services of the Instituto Jaliscience de Ciencias Forenses (IJCF) in Guadalajara, postmortem data of 1000 tattooed bodies from 2019 were evaluated. According to sex and age, the tattooed body localization and the tattoo motives were categorized.
The 1000 tattooed deceased showed tattoos on 2342 body localizations. The motives were grouped and linked to the following 11 keywords (with decreasing frequency): letters/numbers, human, symbol (other), plant, symbol (religious), animal, object, fantasy/demon/comic, tribal/ornament/geometry, other, unrecognizable.
Using the proposed classification, tattoo motives can be described objectively and classified in a practical way. If used for antemortem (missing persons) and postmortem (unknown bodies) documentation, motives can be searched and compared efficiently-helping to identify unknown bodies.
在墨西哥，多年来未被确认身份的尸体数量一直在稳步上升。到目前为止，已有超过 5 万具尸体被认为身份不明。能够进行比较分子遗传学调查的法医实验室通常负担过重，检查可能需要数月时间。因此，必须寻求切实可行的方法来帮助识别更多的未知尸体。增加使用独特的身体特征可能是一种方法，而墨西哥纹身人数的高比率表明纹身作为一种识别工具具有巨大的潜力。对生前（失踪人员）和死后（未知尸体）数据进行比较的前提是对纹身的特殊性进行客观描述，例如。本研究的目的是建立一种客观的纹身动机分类方法，同时考虑到当地的偏好。
在瓜达拉哈拉法医服务机构 IJCF 的法医服务数据库中，评估了 2019 年 1000 具纹身尸体的死后数据。根据性别和年龄，对纹身尸体的定位和纹身动机进行了分类。
1000 具纹身死者的 2342 个身体部位有纹身。动机被分组并与以下 11 个关键词（频率递减）相关联：字母/数字、人、符号（其他）、植物、符号（宗教）、动物、物体、幻想/恶魔/漫画、部落/装饰/几何、其他、无法识别。
使用建议的分类，可以客观地描述纹身动机，并以实用的方式对其进行分类。如果用于生前（失踪人员）和死后（未知尸体）记录，动机可以被有效地搜索和比较，帮助识别未知尸体。
