Age Estimation in Forensic Examination of Child Pornography

Sa？etak Child pornography as a social phenomenon has been present since Antiquity. With the development of computer technology and the increasing availability of the Internet, its phenomenology has changed, resulting in a drastic increase in its availability as well as criminal offenses related to child pornography. The international and legislative efforts were undertaken to define child pornography and various measures are being implemented to prevent and eradicate this phenomenon as well as to sanction the perpetrators. In court proceedings related to child pornography, witness experts have an important role of assessing the age of the persons depicted in the pornographic materials. This paper describes essential terminology, relevant international documents and national legislation, available statistical data, the age estimation method currently used in court proceedings, and the process of development of the new method of age estimation based on photo anthropometry. This paper also recommends guidelines for future researches that would further develop this method and potentially make it applicable in court proceedings