{{short description|Graphical representation of one or more eyewitnesses' memories of a face}} {{Redirect|Identikit|other uses}}
[[File:CompositeB-FBI-1973.jpg|thumb|Composite sketch of D. B. Cooper, who hijacked an airplane in 1971]]
A '''facial composite''', also known as a '''police sketch''', is a graphical representation of one or more eyewitnesses' memories of a face, as recorded by a composite artist. Facial composites are used mainly by police in their investigation of (usually serious) crimes. These images are used to reconstruct the suspect's face in hope of identifying them. Facial reconstruction can also be used in archeological studies to get a visualization of ancient mummies or human remains.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilkinson |first=Caroline |date=February 2010 |title=Facial reconstruction – anatomical art or artistic anatomy? |journal=Journal of Anatomy |volume=216 |issue=2 |pages=235–250 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7580.2009.01182.x |issn=0021-8782 |pmc=2815945 |pmid=20447245}}</ref>
==Methods== === Hand-drawing === Construction of the composite was originally only performed by a trained artist, through drawing, sketching, or painting, in consultation with a witness or crime victim.
=== Feature-based selection === Feature-based systems essentially rely on the selection of individual features in isolation. Individual facial features (eyes, nose, mouth, eyebrows, etc.) are selected one at a time from a large database and then electronically 'overlaid' to make the composite image. This allows images to be created when suitable artistic talent is not available.
Such systems were originally mechanical, using drawings or photographs printed on transparent acetate sheets that could be superimposed on one another to produce the composite image. The first such system was the drawing-based "Identikit" which was introduced in the U.S. in 1959.<ref name="Davies-Valentine2">{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Graham M. |title=Handbook of Eyewitness Psychology |last2=Valentine |first2=Tim |date=2006 |publisher=Lawrence Erlbaum Associates |isbn=9780805851526 |editor=Rod C. L. Lindsay |volume=2 ''Memory for People'' |place=Mahwah, NJ |at=Section, "Mechanical Systems" |chapter=Facial Composites: Forensic Utility and Psychological Research |doi=10.4324/9781315805535 |display-editors=et al. |via=''Routledge Handbooks Online'' (2014)}}</ref> A photograph-based system, "Photofit", was introduced in the UK in 1970 by Jacques Penry.<ref name="Davies-Valentine2" /> Modern systems are software-based; common systems include SketchCop FACETTE Face Design System Software, Identi-Kit 2000, FACES, E-FIT and PortraitPad.
<gallery widths="180px" heights="200px"> File:Caesius facial composite.jpg| A facial composite produced by FACES software File:PortraitPad.jpg|A facial composite produced by PortraitPad software </gallery>
===Evolutionary systems=== Evolutionary systems may be broadly described as holistic or global in that they primarily attempt to create a likeness to the suspect through an evolutionary mechanism in which a witness's response to groups of complete faces (not just features) converges towards an increasingly accurate image. Introduced in the 2000s, such systems are finding increasing use by police forces.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frowd |first1=C. D. |last2=Hancock |first2=P. J. B. |last3=Bruce |first3=V. |last4=McIntyre |first4=A. |last5=Pitchford |first5=M. |last6=Atkins |first6=R. |chapter=Giving crime the 'evo': catching criminals using EvoFIT facial composites |editor1-first=G. |editor1-last=Howells |editor2-first=K. |editor2-last=Sirlantzis |editor3-first=A. |editor3-last=Stoica |editor4-first=T. |editor4-last=Huntsberger |editor5-first=A. T. |editor5-last=Arslan |title=2010 IEEE International Conference on Emerging Security Technologies |year=2010 |pages=36–43 |isbn=978-0-7695-4175-4 |display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first1=S. J. |last1=Gibson |first2=C. J. |last2=Solomon |first3=M. I. S. |last3=Maylin |first4=C. |last4=Clark |title=New methodology in facial composite construction: from theory to practice |journal=International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics |year=2009 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=156–168 |doi= 10.1504/ijesdf.2009.024900}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Solomon |first1=C. |last2=Gibson |first2=S. |last3=Maylin |first3=M. |chapter=A New Computational Methodology for the Construction of Forensic, Facial Composites |title=Computational Forensics |publisher=Springer-Verlag LNCS |year=2009 |pages=67–77 |isbn=9783540853022 }}</ref>
Several of these systems originate in academia: EFIT-V (University of Kent),<ref name="Revolution">{{cite journal | title=A (r)evolution in Crime-fighting. | author=Craig Aaen Stockdale | date=June 1, 2008 | url=http://www.forensicmag.com/article/revolution-crime-fighting | journal=Forensic Magazine | archive-date=April 1, 2013 | access-date=April 12, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401051240/http://www.forensicmag.com/article/revolution-crime-fighting | url-status=dead }}</ref> EvoFIT<ref>{{cite web|url=https://evofit.co.uk/|title=EvoFIT - Evolving Facial Composite Imaging|website=evofit.co.uk}}</ref> (University of Stirling, University of Lancashire, and University of Winchester),<ref name="Frowd 2013 89–97">{{cite journal |last1=Frowd |first1=C. D. |last2=Skelton |first2=F. |last3=Hepton |first3=G. |last4=Holden |first4=L. |last5=Minahil |first5=S. |last6=Pitchford |first6=M. |last7=McIntyre |first7=A. |last8=Hancock |first8=P. J. B. |year=2013 |title=Whole-face procedures for recovering facial images from memory |journal=Science & Justice |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=89–97 |doi=10.1016/j.scijus.2012.12.004 |pmid=23601715 |url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/78320/10/brown1.pdf }}</ref> and ID (University of Cape Town).
A 2012 police field trial indicated that an EvoFIT directly led to the arrest of a suspect and then a conviction in 29% of cases.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Frowd |first1=C. D. |last2=Pitchford |first2=M. |last3=Skelton |first3=F. |last4=Petkovic |first4=A. |last5=Prosser |first5=C. |last6=Coates |first6=B. |year=2012 |chapter=Catching Even More Offenders with EvoFIT Facial Composites |editor1-first=A. |editor1-last=Stoica |editor2-first=D. |editor2-last=Zarzhitsky |editor3-first=G. |editor3-last=Howells |editor4-first=C. |editor4-last=Frowd |editor5-first=K. |editor5-last=McDonald-Maier |editor6-first=A. |editor6-last=Erdogan |editor7-first=T. |editor7-last=Arslan |title=IEEE Proceedings of 2012 Third International Conference on Emerging Security Technologies |doi=10.1109/EST.2012.26 |pages=20–26 |isbn=978-0-7695-4791-6 |s2cid=4503932 }}</ref> There have been many notable successes - for example, in this investigation, EvoFIT has directly led to the arrest of a serial rapist.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=McKeegan |first=Alice |date=2013-01-11 |title=Jailed: Rapist who prowled streets of south Manchester looking for lone young women |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/jailed-rapist-who-prowled-streets-871487 |access-date=2025-11-22 |website=Manchester Evening News |language=en}}</ref>
==Usage== [[File:Aafia Siddiqui 2.png|thumb|right|Facial composite of Aafia Siddiqui, created by the FBI for a wanted poster<ref name="emma">{{Cite news |last=Scroggins |first=Deborah |author1-link=Deborah Scroggins |date=March 1, 2005 |title=The Most Wanted Woman in the World |url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6507794_ITM |url-access=subscription|work=Vogue |via=Access My Library}}</ref>]]
While the classic use of the facial composite is the citizen recognizing the face as an acquaintance, there are other ways where a facial composite can prove useful. The facial composite can contribute in law enforcement in a number of ways:
# Identifying the suspect in a wanted poster. # Additional evidence against a suspect.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} # Assisting investigation in checking leads. # Warning vulnerable population against serial offenders.
Facial composites of various types have been used extensively in television programs which aim to reconstruct major unsolved crimes with a view to gaining information from the members of the public, such as ''America's Most Wanted'' in the US and ''Crimewatch'' in the UK.
==Notable cases== {{More citations needed section|date=April 2021}} These notable cases had facial composites assist in identifying the perpetrator: * Rodney Alcala * Daniel Lee Corwin * Joseph James DeAngelo * Timothy Hennis * Derrick Todd Lee * Manchester serial rapist Asim Javed.<ref name=":0" /> * Niklas Lindgren * Anatoly Maistruk<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://krasnodarmedia.su/news/1223617/?from=79 |title=Голые трупы без головы и 28 жертв: как ДТП на Кубани стало причиной зверств маньяка в СССР |work=Krasnodarmedia.su |date=January 16, 2022 |trans-title=Naked corpses without a head and 28 victims: how an accident in the Kuban caused the atrocities of a maniac in the USSR |language=ru |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230122075840/https://krasnodarmedia.su/news/1223617/?from=79 |archive-date=January 22, 2023}}</ref> * Timothy McVeigh<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Han |first1=Hu |last2=Jain |first2=Anil K. |last3=Klare |first3=Brendan F. |last4=Klum |first4=Scott J. |date=2014 |title=The FaceSketchID System: Matching Facial Composites to Mugshots |url=http://biometrics.cse.msu.edu/Publications/Face/Klumetal_FaceSketchID_TIFS2014.pdf |journal=IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security |volume=9 |issue=12 |pages=2248–2263 |doi=10.1109/TIFS.2014.2360825 |s2cid=14013839 |accessdate=2023-01-13}}</ref> * Christine Paolilla * Reinaldo Rivera
==See also== *Police lineup
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
Category:Crime Category:Criminal law Category:Law enforcement techniques Category:Identity documents