Bertillon System

The Bertillon system created by Alphonse Bertillon in 1879 included a series of bodily measurements for identification, these measurements of the body served as a way to distinguish one person from another. The Bertillon system included a number of measurements such as height, width of arm span, sitting height, head dimensions, foot dimensions, fore arm dimensions and exedra until all bodily measurements are recorded.  These bodily measurements created by Alphonse Bertillon seemed to be the most accurate way to identify people in the early 1880’s but after 2 decades of use it was determined that bone measurements were highly susceptible to error when untrained personnel took the measurements, many people had the wrong measurements taken of their bone structures that presented a problem with officials in determining one inmate from another.  Finger printing then became the system of choice.

 Some of the features that allowed finger printing to be more accurate than the Bertillon system are the fact that finger ridges never change during a person’s life span. Using Galton’s work to determined a system for recognition of finger prints many agencies decided to change their system of classification over to the finger print classification system after it had proven to be very effective in not just identifying criminals but also catching people in criminal acts by their finger prints.

References:

www.policensw.com/info/fingerprints/finger01.html

www.usmarshals.gov/usmsforkids/fingerprint_history.htm

Criminalistics An introductory To Forensic Science Ninth Edition Richard Saferstien Copyright 2007 Sadle River NewJersey, 07458

A History Of Fingerprinting

Early in fingerprint history Herschels was a pioneer in the fingerprinting science he took his own finger prints and never noticed a difference in a fifty year span. Other pioneers that lead in the forefront of the fingerprint included Sir Frances Galton who published a book in 1892 it had an in-depth accurate study of fingerprints Galton and also included an attempt at a system to identify fingerprints. Even though his study was not widely accepted it helped other future pioneers in their studies of fingerprints.

Juan Vucetich an Argentinean Police Officer corresponded with Galton and then devised his own system of fingerprinting called icnofalagomatrico put in practice September of 1891 and in March 1892 Vucetich opened the first fingerprinting bureau at San Nicolas.

Later in 1897 Sir Edward Henry devised a workable solution for fingerprinting and implemented it in India. In 1900 Henry published his book Classification and uses of Fingerprinting.

The history of fingerprinting came with a means to a problem that had existed since the beginning of time how can you hold a person accountable for their actions if you are unable to positively identify who they are.  Other problems creep up when new law enforcement systems like the Bertillon system which identified people by their measurements used a long tedious process of measuring body parts to get a full scope of a person’s dimensions. The Bertillon system had too many flaws to be an accurate account for all persons incarcerated due to untrained personnel law enforcement stopped using the Bertillon. Other studies had to be performed before Edward Henry came up with a working solution to the classification by fingerprinting. Many other pioneers in the law enforcement agencies put forth much effort to make the fingerprint what it is today. Knowing the issues that law enforcement had to overcome fingerprinting is a system that has lasted throughout the 1900^th century.

References

www.policensw.com/info/fingerprints/finger01.html

www.policensw.com/info/fingerprints/finger02.html