Annotation

The relevance of researching portrait identification problems in modern forensic expert activities is driven by two key factors: a significant increase in anthropological diversity of populations in the context of globalization and the widespread use of appearance transformation technologies (plastic surgery). These challenges have revealed the limitations of traditional habitoscopy methods, which are oriented towards an average anthropological standard. The purpose of the article is a critical analysis of the methodological problems of forensic identification based on appearance features and the development of an integrated approach that considers ethnic characteristics and conditions of altered appearance.