Factors Influencing the Assessment of a Person’s Stature from Their Foot Length

Abstract

Determining a person’s stature from their foot length is of great criminalistic significance in the process of identifying a person. The analysis of research publications on this issue showed that there is a variety of approaches to calculating the approximate height of a person based on their foot length and footprints (dynamic, static) and that the majority of authors believe it possible to determine a person’s stature from their foot size (some using its length, and others — the width of its mesopodial or calcaneal parts). However, different approaches yield different results. In order to clarify the possible reasons for obtaining different results, the authors supposed that such factors as a person’s sex, age, build and place of residence in childhood could have an influence on the correlation between the stature and the foot length. The article presents the results of their study.