  With increasing interest in employing iris biometrics as a forensic tool for
identification by investigation authorities, there is a need for a thorough
examination and understanding of post-mortem decomposition processes that take
place within the human eyeball, especially the iris. This can prove useful for
fast and accurate matching of ante-mortem with post-mortem data acquired at
crime scenes or mass casualties, as well as for ensuring correct dispatching of
bodies from the incident scene to a mortuary or funeral homes. Following these
needs of forensic community, this paper offers an analysis of the coarse
effects of eyeball decay done from a perspective of automatic iris recognition
point of view. Therefore, we analyze post-mortem iris images acquired in both
visible light as well as in near-infrared light (860 nm), as the latter
wavelength is used in commercial iris recognition systems. Conclusions and
suggestions are provided that may aid forensic examiners in successfully
utilizing iris patterns in post-mortem identification of deceased subjects.
Initial guidelines regarding the imaging process, types of illumination,
resolution are also given, together with expectations with respect to the iris
features decomposition rates.
