U.S. flag
      An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.
        Here's how you know
      Here's how you know**Official websites use .gov**
            
            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
      **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
            
            A **lock** (
            A locked padlock
            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Menu

      
        close

            
            
                                              About NIJ
        
                    
  
          About NIJ
      
    
          The NIJ Director
          How NIJ Is Organized
          Mission and Guiding Principles
          Research and Development Process
          Strategic Framework
          Assessments of NIJ
          Annual Reports & Reports to Congress
          Staff Directory
          Funding & Awards
        
                    
  
          Funding & Awards
      
    
          Current Funding
          Forthcoming Funding
          Expired Funding
          Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
          Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
          Fellowship & Student Programs
          Travel Scholarships
          NIJ Challenge Program
          Library & Multimedia
        
                    
  
          Library & Multimedia
      
    
          NIJ Journal
          Podcasts
          Publications Listing
          Multimedia Listing
          Rated Practices on CrimeSolutions
          Rated Programs on CrimeSolutions
          Software & Databases
          Datasets
          Patents
          Topics
        
                    
  
          Topics
      
    
          Article Listing
          Corrections
          Courts
          Crime Prevention
          Crimes
          Drugs and Crime
          Equipment and Technology
          Forensic Sciences
          Youth Justice
          Justice System Reform
          Law Enforcement
          Tribal Crime and Justice
          Victims of Crime
          Events
        
                    
  
          Events
      
    
          NIJ 2024 Research Conference
          Scheduled Events
          On-Demand Events
          Research Meetings & Workshops
          NIJ-Hosted Online Training

                            
                                About
          Contact Us
          Subscribe
          Topics A-Z
                  Share
FacebookXLinkedInRedditPinterestEmail Home
                            Funding & Awards
 Forensic tool to identify fall characteristics in infant skull fracture
Award Information
Awardee
              UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
Award #
              2020-75-CX-0014
Funding Category
              Competitive Discretionary
Location
                    SALT LAKE CITY, UT
Congressional District
              1
Status
              Open
Funding First Awarded
              2020
Total funding (to date)
              $557,607
Original Solicitation
              Research and Development in Forensic Science for Criminal Justice Purposes, Fiscal Year 2020
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2020, $557,607)
Over 650,000 children are victims of abuse and neglect each year. Infants are particularly vulnerable and represent the age group most likely to experience a recurrence of maltreatment if the abuse is not detected. Child abuse cases, however, can be some of the most challenging cases for prosecutors, law enforcement professionals, and child protection advocates. No one other than the accused is typically present to witness the event, and children, especially infants, are too young to communicate what events led to their injuries. To confound matters, falls are the leading cause of non-fatal injury in infants, and the most common history provided in cases of child abuse. Therefore, distinguishing a truthful history of a fall from a false one proves to be a difficult, but important, task.
Linear skull fractures are common in both accidental and abusive head trauma, but little is known about the mechanics of skull fracture in infants. Further, it is unknown how fall characteristics affect skull fracture patterns. Recently, we used fundamental fracture mechanics to develop a fracture-simulation framework. This framework is capable of predicting infant skull fracture patterns from head impact and, thus, enables exploration of the effect of fall characteristics, such as fall height and impact angle, on skull fracture length and orientation.
This proposal will begin to translate the aforementioned fracture-simulation framework into a forensic tool capable of estimating fall height and impact location from images of skull fracture. A two-phase approach will be used to provide intermediary milestones within the project. In Phase 1, we will evaluate multiple supervised machine learning algorithms and identify the best one to estimate fall characteristics from images of fracture patterns. Concurrently, we will characterize the natural variability of skull thickness across the infant skull in a large dataset of infants. Using uncertainty quantification methods, we will then measure the effect of skull thickness distribution on skull fracture patterns in single events. In Phase 2, we will integrate the effects of skull thickness distribution into the machine learning algorithm and will evaluate the new tool against real-world cases of infant skull fracture from well-witnessed accidental falls.
Successful completion of this project will provide the medical, legal, and forensic communities with data to understand skull fracture variability among infants and produce an image analysis tool capable of improving accuracy in identifying child abuse cases. Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law, and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR 200.210(a)(14). CA/NCF



  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Age-related skull fracture patterns in infants after low-height falls

  
Date Created: October 22, 2020
    
          Side navigation
  

        

  
  
              Current Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Forthcoming Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Expired Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
    
      
            
            
            
      Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
    
      
            
            
            
      Fellowship & Student Programs
    
      
            
            
            
      Travel Scholarships
    
      
            
            
            
      NIJ Challenge ProgramSimilar Awards
        
                      Developing and Validating Standards for Dental Cementum Age-at-Death and Season-of-Death Estimation
                  Optimizing New STRs for Enhanced DNA Mixture Deconvolution
                  DENTAGE: A multi-component subadult dental age estimation method
 Top

      National Institute of Justice

        
        
                        About NIJ
                    About NIJ
      
    
                  How NIJ Is Organized
      
    
                  NIJ Director
      
    
                  Research Disclaimer
      
    
                  Funding & Awards
                    Funding & Awards Home
      
    
                  Awards Listing
      
    
                  Current Funding
      
    
                  Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
      
    
                  Resources
                    Events
      
    
                  Podcasts
      
    
                  Publications
      
    
                  Topics
      
    
                  Multimedia
      
    
                  Reuse Policy
      
    
                  Contacts
                    Contact NIJ
      
    
                  Staff Directory
      
    
                  Submit a FOIA Request
      
    
                  File a Civil Rights ComplaintFacebook
          
                      X
          
                      YouTube
  

      810 7th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20531
      
              Secondary Footer link menu
            Accessibility
              Plain Language
              Privacy Policy
              Legal Policies and Disclaimer
              No FEAR Act
              Freedom of Information Act
              USA.gov
              Justice.gov