geoFOR: A collaborative forensic taphonomy database for estimating the postmortem interval.

Accurately assessing the postmortem interval (PMI), or the time since death, remains elusive within forensic science research and application. This paper introduces geoFOR, a web-based collaborative application that utilizes ArcGIS and machine learning to deliver improved PMI predictions. The geoFOR application provides a standardized, collaborative forensic taphonomy database that gives practitioners a readily available tool to enter case information that automates the collection of environmental data and delivers a PMI prediction using statistically robust methods. After case submission, the cross-validating machine learning PMI predictive model results in a R² value of 0.82. Contributors receive a predicted PMI with an 80% confidence interval. The geoFOR database currently contains 2529 entries from across the U.S. and includes cases from medicolegal investigations and longitudinal studies from human decomposition facilities. We present the overall findings of the data collected so far and compare results from medicolegal cases and longitudinal studies to highlight previously poorly understood limitations involved in the difficult task of PMI estimation. This novel approach for building a reference dataset of human decomposition is forensically and geographically representative of the realities in which human remains are discovered which allows for continual improvement of PMI estimations as more data is captured. It is our goal that the geoFOR data repository follow the principles of Open Science and be made available to forensic researchers to test, refine, and improve PMI models. Mass collaboration and data sharing can ultimately address enduring issues associated with accurately estimating the PMI within medicolegal death investigations.

The madness they endured: A biocultural examination of women's experiences of structural violence within 20th-century Missouri state mental hospitals.

OBJECTIVE: This study employs feminist disability theory and the concept of structural violence to interpret the results of skeletal and documentary analysis of fracture and disease presence (i.e., syphilis and tuberculosis) among a group of institutionalized women who lived and died within 20th-century Missouri state mental hospitals. MATERIALS: The skeletal remains and corresponding death certificates of 52 adult Euro-American women housed in the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Collection at the Smithsonian Museum Support Center. Archival and historical literature concerning state mental hospitals were also utilized. METHODS: Macroscopic skeletal analysis of fracture and disease combined with archival research (i.e., associated death certificates and historical documentation). RESULTS: Approximately 15% of patients demonstrated evidence of perimortem hip fractures with no surgical intervention, most of whom were labeled "psychotic". Death certificates revealed the presence of syphilis (n = 4) and death from TB (n = 5). CONCLUSIONS: Nineteenth and 20th-century patriarchal conditions contributed to the institutionalization of women. Women who were impoverished, spouseless, and perceived as mentally or physically disabled were particularly vulnerable to institutionalization. Once hospitalized, patients were exposed to structurally violent conditions including neglect and abuse that resulted in avoidable harm. SIGNIFICANCE: Historical and documentary data associated with osteological collections is underutilized and can serve to both humanize these individuals and advance our understanding of their intersectional experiences. The implementation of theoretical frameworks within bioarchaeology can also assist in more holistically interpreting the complexities of past life. LIMITATIONS: Small, homogenous sample size limited by macroscopic analysis. FURTHER RESEARCH: Future work should increase sample size, heterogeneity, and conduct other relevant skeletal and documentary analyses.