DDRI: Challenges of Conducting Forensic Science in Transitional Justice Contexts

过渡时期司法越来越依赖法医人类学为战时暴力提供客观、科学的证据，然后可以根据证人的证词加以证实。但在收集和解释数据的过程中，法医调查是如何受到道德和法律责任的影响的？该项目训练毕业生掌握严谨的、以经验为基础的科学实地调查方法，研究法医团队必须如何一方面兼顾为刑事审判提供物证的法律义务，另一方面兼顾对死者家属的道德责任，同时保持科学中立的标准。此外，这项研究的发现将通过强调在有多个受害者的案件中研究个体骨骼创伤模式的重要性，如连环谋杀案、飞机失事和自然灾害，为美国现有的法医科学模型做出贡献。纽约大学博士候选人詹妮弗·特罗布里奇（Jennifer Trowbridge）将在萨利·恩格尔·梅里博士的指导下，对哥伦比亚战争罪受害者进行法医调查研究。哥伦比亚政府与长期存在的游击队组织哥伦比亚革命武装力量（FARC）之间正在进行的和平谈判表明，哥伦比亚正在成为一个参与过渡司法进程的国家。随着国家从战争走向和平，死者家属要求挖掘、鉴定和归还其亲人遗体的空间越来越大。研究人员假设，为了理解大规模政治暴力的模式，法医调查需要与暴力的证词相互作用，以解决战争带来的复杂社会变革。哥伦比亚的墓地为研究法医科学调查、旨在促进民主稳定的法律机制以及受大规模暴力侵害的社区的集体身份转变之间的相互作用提供了一个理想的地点。鉴于美国自1999年开始实施“哥伦比亚计划”（Plan Colombia）以来为帮助解决哥伦比亚的政治冲突做出的外交和财政承诺，这种理解显得尤为重要。数据收集和分析的方法包括通过初步调查、挖掘、实验室分析和遗体遣返的过程对法医调查实践进行人种学调查。研究人员将参与观察并与法医和其他国家和法律调查员、组织和死者家属进行面谈，并对法医案件报告进行文本和视觉分析。这项研究的结果将推动文化人类学、法律和社会科学，特别是在法医人类学、生物人类学、生物考古学和科学技术研究领域。

Transitional justice has come to increasingly rely on forensic anthropology to provide objective, scientific proof of war-time violence, which can then be corroborated against witness testimonies. But in the process of assembling and interpreting data, how are forensic investigations influenced by moral and legal responsibilities? This project, which trains a graduate in methods of rigorous, empirically-grounded scientific fieldwork, examines how forensic teams must juggle their legal obligations to provide material evidence for criminal trials on the one hand, and their moral responsibilities to the bereaved relatives of the deceased on the other, meanwhile maintaining standards of scientific neutrality. Furthermore, findings from this research will contribute to existing forensic science models within the United States by stressing the importance of studying patterns of skeletal trauma across individuals in cases with multiple victims, such as serial murder cases, plane crashes, and natural disasters.New York University doctoral candidate, Jennifer Trowbridge, under the supervision of Dr. Sally Engle Merry, will conduct research on forensic investigations of war crimes' victims in Colombia. Ongoing peace talks between the Colombian state and the long-standing guerilla organization, the FARC, suggest Colombia's emergence as a country engaged in transitional justice processes. As the country moves from war to peace, increasing space is opening up for relatives of the deceased to demand the exhumation, identification, and return of their loved ones' remains. The researcher hypothesizes that in order to understand patterns of mass political violence, forensic investigations require an interaction with testimonial accounts of violence that address the complex social transformations brought about by war. The Colombian gravesite provides an ideal location to examine the interactions between forensic science investigations, legal mechanisms designed to advance democratic stability, and shifts in collective identity among communities victimized by mass violence. Such an understanding takes on particular importance given US diplomatic and financial commitments to help resolve Colombia's political strife since the beginning of "Plan Colombia" in 1999. Methods of data collection and analysis include an ethnographic investigation of forensic investigation practice through the process of preliminary investigation, exhumation, laboratory analysis, and repatriation of remains. The researcher will engage in participation observation and interviews with forensic and other state and legal investigators, organizations, and families of the deceased, as well as a textual and visual analysis of forensic case reports. Findings from this study will advance cultural anthropology and law and social sciences, particularly in the areas of forensic anthropology, biological anthropology, bioarcheology, and science and technology studies.