Realignment in 2025: Focus on Research, Family, and My Book Project

Looking back on 25 eventful years as a forensic expert, I reflect with a half-smile on the many challenging cases that have kept me up day and night. However, as of January 1, 2025, with a few exceptions, I will no longer accept new expert reports from the German judiciary. This decision has not been easy, but it finally opens up the space I desperately need for my research, my family, and the completion of my specialist book on person identification.

I am tired of traveling 600 kilometers or more for each court date, only to find out that my actual costs are barely covered. The constant travel is draining and time-consuming, but even more frustrating is that the German Compensation and Indemnity Act does not reflect my expenditures on highly specialized hardware and software. While a car workshop can quickly charge between 170 and 230 euros for a skilled worker’s hour – as many Audi, Mercedes, or BMW workshops do according to common online price lists – I, as a forensic expert, have no realistic way to work at cost or even profitably.

Additionally, I engage in daily further education, which involves both additional financial outlay and valuable time. All this is no longer proportionate to the ever-rising prices in this country. I regularly receive new price increases, and the energy costs in Germany have become barely manageable for a business like mine. The investments in modern technology and the intensive work on each expert report are simply not compensated by the current compensation rates. What particularly irks me is when courts, for cost reasons, try to summon me merely as an expert witness. To be frank, in such cases, I will not appear, just as I have handled it in the past. I have a fixed price for my services, and only under these conditions am I willing to provide my expertise.

From now on, I will no longer offer training sessions, but I will continue to share my knowledge through lectures. For example, this year I am scheduled to speak at the Charité in Berlin on the topic of forensic anthropology. However, those who know me are aware that I continue to educate myself relentlessly. Forensics is my passion, my life, and my calling, and this pursuit cannot simply be turned off just because I officially slow down. At the same time, it’s time to slow down my daily life. I will reduce my company’s staff to finally find more peace and tranquility.

Nevertheless, I remain active in the field of artificial intelligence. For several months, I’ve been working on simplifying facial reconstruction from human skulls. We are in a new era, and we have two H100 systems that run independently, are stored on encrypted drives, and are not connected to the internet. This keeps us independent of external security risks, allowing us to train our AI models as we see fit, without adhering to countless EU regulations and data protection directives that are now very strict on some software or hardware. These regulations not only hinder me, but also productive work throughout the country. I also doubt that Palantir’s software would give German authorities any significant advantage, since its effective use requires extensive database connections. In reality, it seems that U.S. intelligence agencies have more access to our databases than our own authorities, which is why terror warnings often come from the CIA rather than local agencies. This creates a backdoor that gives me heartburn because I don’t believe our communications are as secure as we’re led to believe. No app is invulnerable anymore, and even the dark web is now controlled.

I am still available as a reliable contact for criminal law assignments concerning forensic questions or the evaluation of court files. For this, we use a specially developed LLM tailored to legal documents to assist in reviewing extensive file collections. In other areas, especially when processing image and video material, I consciously avoid using AI, as the available systems are still too error-prone for this purpose.

My services cover a broad spectrum in forensic anthropology, from age and origin determination using C14 and isotope analysis to the restoration and conservation of finds, which are often archaeologically relevant. In cases of severely damaged or partially skeletal remains, I employ established anthropological methods and imaging techniques to reconstruct missing soft tissue and create as lifelike an image as possible. Often, authorities only have images that, due to the condition of the remains, cannot be published directly. Through careful reconstruction, a usable photo can still be created for identification or investigation purposes. This work is always done in close cooperation with forensic medicine and the relevant investigative authorities, which is particularly beneficial in so-called cold cases.

In isotope analysis, I examine various elements like strontium, oxygen, carbon, or nitrogen to deduce a person’s diet or habitat. Access to international databases allows for more precise determination of possible regions of origin. The C14 method primarily serves to determine the age of bones or other organic remains, providing reliable results up to approximately 50,000 years old. Upon request, additional methods like DNA analysis or histological investigations can be employed if necessary for identification or clarifying specific findings. In some cases, the evaluation of bite marks also plays a crucial role, especially when dental impressions are preserved or corresponding traces are found at crime scenes. This forensic-odontological approach can provide key clues for identifying suspects or victims, especially when other characteristics are insufficient.

In addition to my forensic services, I continue to offer IT security solutions, primarily to protect sensitive data and ensure secure communication structures. Since forensic investigations and official inquiries often generate confidential information, I place the utmost importance on ensuring that all relevant areas from data processing to internal communication are optimally secured. For inquiries, please email george@rauscher.de.