Face recognition: Some challenges in forensics

Face recognition has become a valuable and routine forensic tool used by criminal investigators. Compared to automated face recognition, forensic face recognition is more demanding because it must be able to handle facial images captured under non-ideal conditions and it has high liability for following legal procedures. This paper discusses recent developments in automated face recognition that impact the forensic face recognition community. Improvements in forensic face recognition through research in facial aging, facial marks, forensic sketch recognition, face recognition in video, near-infrared face recognition, and use of soft biometrics will be discussed. Finally, current limitations and future research directions for face recognition in forensics are suggested.