Development of a Colorimetric Scale as a Visual Aid for theTime of Bruising in Blunt Trauma and Bitemark

After attending this presentation, attendees will learn more aboutcolor of bruise versus age of bruise and how a colorimetric scale may bevisual aid for the assessment of the age of bruising.This presentation will impact the forensic science community byintroducing two prototype colorimetric scales with and without linearmeasurement, each with six bruising colors, three circles with black andwhite calibrators to be used for forensic photography of white EuropeanpopulationMedical examiners and forensic odontologists are frequently askedto establish the age of a bruise on a living or deceased individual.Injuries may be the result of bitemarks or of non-accidental traumas,thus having a medico-legal significance in the field of child abuse. InJune of 1996, persons investigating child abuse and neglect were maileda pamphlet from the U.S. Department of Justice entitled, “RecognizingWhen a Child’s Injury or Illness is Caused by Abuse,” with a specificpart dedicated to aging of bruises. The pamphlet gave a very clear cutdescription of color of bruise versus age of bruise, as follows: Red 0-2days; Blue, Purple 2-5 days; Green 5-7 days; Yellow 7-10 days; Brown10-14 days. However, a colorimetric scale for forensic photographybased on the bruise colors has never been proposed, as photographiccolor reproduction is unreliable and depends on several factors, likecamera, lighting, printer, and photo-editing color calibration.The purpose of this study is to propose two prototype colorimetricscales with and without linear measurement, each with six bruisingcolors based on RGB color model, three circles with black and whitecalibrators to be used for forensic photography of skin injuries of whiteEuropean population, during different stages of healing. The prototypescales were employed during forensic photographic imaging of cases ofblunt trauma and bitemarks.This study does not attempt to give a definitive account of thedifferent scientific methods available for the assessment of the age ofbruising. This presentation will present an opinion that a color aid whenanalyzing photos could assist with the interpretation and accuracy ofestimation of bruise age, especially when the analysis it made directly ondigital images prior to printing. Such an aid would give a reliablestandard condition and allow color calibration. It is essential that thecolors within the image represent colors within the bruise under standardand reliable conditions.Observation on a large sample of blunt trauma and bitemarkinjuries applying the proposed colorimetric scales is needed to verifyand validate the preliminary results obtained, although bruise ageestimation remains an expert opinion with several degrees of accuracyand variability. For this reason colors within the bruise have to beanalyzed by experienced and confident observers along with every andany relevant findings and observations in order to prevent errors ormisjudgment.A synergy between medical examiners and odontologists is alsoadvisable for a more acceptable forensic interpretation in order to assessthe correction parameters to be used in the proposed colorimetric scale.