DEEN
Dipl.-Biol. Bastian J. Hirthammer
Forensic Anthropology

Profile

Profile and qualifications

Dipl.-Biol. Bastian J. Hirthammer has worked as a court-appointed expert in forensic anthropology since 2002 and has been in independent practice in Berlin since 2006.

The main fields are forensic image comparison, age estimation, and morphological ageing. Professional training, publication activity, and ongoing work on forensic-anthropological questions accompany the practice. This also includes links to anthropological morphology and morphognostic feature analysis; court-related practice, qualifications, and professional context are further developed on the corresponding specialist pages.

The main body of instructions arises from judicial practice, above all from local courts in regulatory offence and criminal matters, followed by regional courts, public prosecutors, and administrative authorities. Private instructions play only a secondary role.

Practice Expert witness practice since 2002 · independent office since 2006
Certification certified annually in the AGFAD ring trial since 2009
Memberships AGIB · AGFAD · DGGG · additionally BDP/legal psychology and EAPL

Profile and qualifications · Professional integration

Professional memberships

The professional positioning lies primarily in the anthropological and medico-anthropological field. This includes, in particular, links to the AGIB – Working Group for Identification from Images, the AGFAD – Working Group on Forensic Age Diagnostics of the German Society of Legal Medicine, and the DGGG – German Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Section I. The main points of reference are brought together below in the section “Verifiable details”.

Additional links to psychology mainly concern legal psychology, visual perception and judgement formation. Memberships include the BDP with primary section membership in legal psychology and the European Association of Psychology and Law (EAPL).

Profile and qualifications · Fields of work

Focus areas

The main fields are morphological forensic image comparison in court-related administrative offence and criminal proceedings, forensic age estimation at statutory age thresholds, and morphological ageing with its age-related feature changes. This is complemented by work on the 3D quantification of human morphological structures and on standardised comparison images. These focal areas connect practical expert work with scientific activity. Complementing the expert practice, there is a scientific line of work on face and age perception, image comparison, morphological ageing and visual judgement formation. Selected contents and publication-related materials are presented on the project page FaceMindLab.

Profile and qualifications · Verifiable details

Verifiable details

The practice is based on long professional continuity: expert witness practice since 2002, independent office in Berlin since 2006, AGIB membership as a scientific expert since 2008, and annual certification in the AGFAD ring trial since 2009. In addition, there is independent specialist work on forensic image comparison, age estimation, and morphological ageing.

On procedure

For an initial enquiry, the type of proceedings, the evidential question, and the current state of the material are usually sufficient. This often identifies the next step: preliminary review, technical preparation or more extensive expert examination.

Profile and qualifications · Quality assurance

Quality assurance and continuing education

Professional work is not defined by memberships alone. It also requires continuing education, engagement with current standards, and transparent documentation of the working basis. This matters in fields that require open methodological limits and current practical judgement.

In forensic age estimation, this is additionally reflected in the documented annual participation in the AGFAD proficiency test since 2009. This documents ongoing quality assurance and methodological updating.

Profile and qualifications · Scientific background

Publications

A complete overview of the publications, book chapters, and selected specialist contributions is available on the dedicated publications page. The material is compiled there in a more coherent bibliographic form.