With no paper trail, can science determine age? – science-in-society – 11 May 2012 – New Scientist

GUESSING someone’s age can be risky at cocktail parties, but what about when their future is at stake? For refugees, the difference between childhood and adulthood can be the difference between asylum, deportation or jail.

Thanks to international child protection laws, asylum-seekers are more likely to be admitted to wealthy nations if they are under 18. Minors get access to many social programmes and as such they can be costly to governments, so officials want to be confident on the age issue. When documents are in question – or do not exist – immigration departments look to science.

via With no paper trail, can science determine age? – science-in-society – 11 May 2012 – New Scientist.

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