Abstract

CASTELLANOS, Daniel  and  CHAPETON, Mónica Charlotte. Forensic Anthropology and Forensic Medical-Legal Autopsy in Colombia. Antipod. Rev. Antropol. Arqueol. [online]. 2023, n.50, pp.73-92.  Epub Feb 21, 2023. ISSN 1900-5407.  https://doi.org/10.7440/antipoda50.2023.04.

Forensic anthropology is now considered an instrument that supports the justice system and humanitarian forensic action. It contributes with its specialized knowledge to the different stages and procedures of the judicial investigation, and to humanitarian work. One of its specific contributions is laboratory analysis, where the forensic anthropologist, through his scientific knowledge (e.g., human osteology) supports identification and the determination of the manner and cause of death. However, in Colombia, the work of the forensic anthropologist falls within the framework of the medical-legal autopsy and is even immersed in it, so that its scope and objectives tend to be invisible in the field of inquest into deaths. This article reflects on the relationship between forensic anthropology and forensic-medical-legal autopsy. It begins with an assessment of the current context of the search for and identification of missing persons, then determines how forensic-medical-legal autopsy and anthropological work are linked in the legal context and, finally, presents a discussion on the relationship between theory and practice in forensic anthropological analysis. This article therefore presents the challenges facing the discipline, such as the consolidation of its theoretical-scientific foundation and the updating of standards and/or procedures in which necropsy and forensic anthropology merge. The purpose of the above is to highlight its scope and objectives, the role of the anthropologist in the analysis phase and the importance of his or her findings in a legal context. The article invites other researchers to delve deeper into the issues discussed in this reflection and contributes to the discussion on strengthening the scientific basis of the discipline and its relationship with academia.

Keywords : Armed conflict; forensic anthropological study; forensic anthropology; legal evidence; medical-legal autopsy; search for missing persons.

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