SOFA Sponsored Forensic Anthropology Database for Assessing Methods Accuracy (FADAMA)

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The forensic anthropology database for assessing methods accuracy (FADAMA) is a FREE online forensic case database for documenting forensic anthropology methods and case outcomes. It serves the broader forensic anthropology community of practitioners, researchers and students. The main purpose of this database is to create avenues for forensic anthropology methods development and improvement by providing detailed data on method use, method outcomes, and individual and cumulative method accuracy. To this end, FADAMA is a repository for forensic anthropologists with past and/or present positively identified cases. All data submitted by practitioners is then amalgamated into a single database, which can be easily searched and downloaded for research purposes by FADAMA users.

With the participation of practitioners and the submission of the current and past cases, FADAMA is the first forensic anthropological community-wide collective resource and has the potential to improve and standardize forensic anthropology practices. Currently, there exists no formal, organized space for the forensic anthropology community to share our approaches to casework and casework outcomes. While informal peer interaction is ongoing and useful, a significant measure that is missing in order for our discipline to self-assess is data on our casework itself. Electronic access to all submitted and anonymized case data is available for download for all FADAMA users to make possible the widest use of the data for education and research. This project was supported by Award No.2018-DU-BX-0213, awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice. To learn more about FADAMA, please see the following reference: Juarez, Chelsey A., Cris E. Hughes, and An‐Di Yim. "A report on the Forensic Anthropology Database for Assessing Methods Accuracy." American Journal of Physical Anthropology 174.1 (2021): 149-150.