We would like to thank Focardi et al. for dealing with a certain aspect of forensic age estimation. Please allow us to add a few remarks on that topic. An ‘ethical’ debate accompanies the age question especially in asylum-related proceedings since the intense discussions in the 1990s in European countries like Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland (e.g. [1–4]). The limitations of the Greulich-Pyle atlas 1959 [5], clinical staging of ‘wisdom tooth’-eruption and biometric data next to missing reference studies were mentioned as well as standards concerning legal age dispute procedures demanded. The critique initiated a process leading to specific legal and scientific backgrounds. Already in 1997, EU regulations suggested the use of medical professional evidence for asylum-related age differentiation justifying furthermore radiological imaging within medico-legal procedures [6, 7], both positions being reiterated into the ‘Common European Asylum System’....
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0937-9827 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00414-014-1043-8 ID - ref1 ER -