Piper Robbins

UNIDENTIFIED

The term unidentified person is a used to describe the corpse of a deceased person whose identity cannot be established by police or medical examiners.

Approximately 600,000 individuals go missing every year in the United States. 4,400 Unidentified bodies are recovered each year and around 1,000 of those bodies remain unidentified and become cold cases. Today nearly 14,000 unidentified persons exist only as bits of text or more rarely a representative image on a handful of databases.

There are currently no federal requirements for state, local and tribal police to report any data about Missing Murdered and Unidentified individuals. Not collecting data about murder further marginalizes those in our society who often fall through the cracks. Specific states, cities and regions have higher rates of unidentified persons for a variety of unique reasons.

Unidentified people do not have a name, only case numbers. Their voice silenced, their name lost and at times their race and gender may be confused further erasing their identity and lowering the possibility of recognition. The rows of data and varieties of aged photographs are all that exist of someone who likely did not have an easy life and most certainly suffered a horrific lonely death. Who we choose to care and not care about in our culture shows what traits we value as a society. Marginalization cannot exist without oppression. Oppression occurs when those in power ignore groups of people who society sees as other. Sharing information is a way to give agency and power back to the victimized.