Unidentified Persons

I wonder if the decrease in unidentified persons might be related to decreased crime rates or innovations in forensics that might make it easier to identify remains.

According to BJS: "Of the 2,900 National Crime Information Center records that contained data on the manner of death, 27% were ruled homicides; 12%, accidental deaths; 7%, natural causes; and 5%, suicides." Since we're only talking about a few hundred unidentified individuals total per year, 27% of them would be such a small number that comparisons to the crime rate would probably not be valid. Forensics improvements *would* make sense, although I'm not aware of evidence in support of it (haven't looked either).

I really like the improved forensic science theory. Wasn't DNA matching beginning to be widely used in the early 90's?

Since so many of the incidents are from Texas and California, I would have expected to see a subtle decline post 2001, as stepped up border security would have resulted in more crossers being intercepted before they had the chance to perish in the desert.