Forensic Anthropology and the Mitigation of Cognitive Biases in the Investigation of Human Rights Violations

The contribution of anthropologists to forensic investigations depends largely on the correct observations, analysis and interpretation of the evidence. However, these are often based on qualitative methods that involve subjectivity procedures, making them susceptible to cognitive biases that could lead to erroneous conclusions. The aim of this study article is to highlight the potential operationalization of the abduction-deduction-induction (ADI) cycle and Linear Sequential Unmasking–Expanded (LSU-E) as a procedural framework to mitigate the influence of cognitive biases in the field of forensic anthropology, particularly in its application to the investigation of human rights violations from an approach to the operationalization of the Sydney declaration. We illustrate their implementation through two real cases in which we address the interpretation of the circumstances of death based on three lines of evidence: bone trauma, depositional contexts, and testimonial information collected by social anthropologists. The aim is to reduce cognitive biases so as to provide a more solid and objective approach to interpreting forensic anthropological evidence.