Victims Project Information Charley Identification Fbi Government National

The FBI Victims Identification Project, sometimes referred to as "VICTIMS" is a research project of the "FBI" (Federal Bureau of Investigation; the main U.S. government agency responsible for investigating crimes). VICTIMS is creating a national "database" (an organized way of storing large amounts of electronic information) of all the "records" (information that is being saved) of "unidentified" (not knowing what something is and/or who it belongs to) "human remains" (parts of human bodies of those who have died). Many other groups across the nation are trying to identify human remains, but VICTIMS is the only effort to "tackle the problem" (find a solution) at a national level.

The Victims Identification Project asks other government agencies to enter information into their "master" (overall; bigger and greater than others) database. Each record may contain information about the "case" (the situation or circumstances under which the remains were found), biological information, "facial reconstructions" (educated guesses about what the face looked like based on the "skull" (bones of the head)), "dental" (teeth) information, and more.

An unrelated effort, called The Charley Project, "publicizes" (shares information about) cases involving "missing persons" (people whose location and "status" (whether they are alive or dead) are unknown). The Charley Project is primarily a website that "profiles" (provides information about) missing persons with their "identifying characteristics" (physical characteristics describing someone's appearance), photographs, and a description of the circumstances under which he or she disappeared.

The Charley Project does not investigate cases, and some people criticize it for "exploiting" (taking advantage of) the "victims" (people who are hurt by a crime) and their families by sharing information that the victims and families would prefer to "keep private" (not share with others).