Age Progressions

Age progressions are often used in fugitive update cases or missing persons. If someone hasn’t been seen in awhile, law enforcement may ask an artist to show how that person may have aged since last seen and how they might appear presently, in order to try and get media interest in the case. For a successful age progression, the artist should have knowledge of the person’s lifestyle, how their family members age, and any medical issues they may have.

There are two different types of age progression in law enforcement. The artist can incorporate knowledge of craniofacial growth to age a child to an adult. This is done primarily in the case of missing children to project how the child may have aged.

Alternatively, an artist can take into account how muscles and skin age and sag when doing an age progression on an adult. This type of work is often done for fugitive updates and missing persons. The cases here show both types of work.