Fingerprints

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An Analysis of Fingerprint Identification

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Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Previous Methods of Identification 3

Early History of Identification 4

Fingerprint Identification in the US 5

Basic Features of Fingerprint Identification 6

Fingerprint Identification Today 7

Cases of Incorrect Fingerprint Identification 8

DNA Fingerprinting Compared with Fingerprint Identification 8

Conclusion 9

Bibliographies 10

I . Introduction

There was a time when recidivism was a serious social problem . The public was outraged and demanded that

a strict policy be adopted against repeat offenders while leniency should be given to first-time offenders (Katherine Schwinghammer , 2005 ,

.7 ) Linking of the accused to the crime scene and proving that he is a repeat offender is not an easy task . With the sophisticated tools available by which a person could escape being identified and the mobility of repeat offenders , they can easily transfer to another town and commit crimes without being identified as a repeat offender . There has to be a more efficient means by which the accused can be identified , link him conclusively to the crime scene and determine if he is a repeat-offender

In view of the uniqueness of the human fingerprint , its permanence and the fact that it cannot be lost or stolen or transferred to any other person , it has been considered as an efficient tool in criminal investigation . This term traces the evolution and development of fingerprint identification including the previous methods of identification before it was utilized by law enforcement authorities Also , its essential features , the fingerprint patterns , and the challenges to fingerprint identification will likewise be discussed

II . Previous Methods of Identification

One of the first methods used for identifying suspects of crime was photography . Photographs of the faces of the suspects were taken and d in what law enforcement officers called the rouges ' gallery (Kimberly Skopitz , 2002 ,

.1 ) In view of the increasing number of photographs taken , it became impractical for law enforcement officers to collect these photographs and other methods have to be used . By 1870 law enforcement officers in Britain began recording tattoos , scars and other distinctive marks . But this also proved impractical considering the difficulty of making this data available to other law enforcement officers . In France , police officials experimented on certain body measurements as a means of identifying suspect in crime . This system which was devised by Alphonse Bertillon was accepted for three decades until the case of Will West . Will West was convicted with the use of measurements Bertillon 's system but it was later on found out that there was another prisoner , William West who at the time had almost identical measurements as Will West . This placed Bertillon 's system in serious question

III . Early History of Fingerprint Identification

Historically , fingerprints have fascinated professors and scholars even before the 17th Century . It was however only in 1856 that the use of fingerprints for personal identification has been discovered serendipitously by Sir William Herschel . Herschel entered into an agreement with a local businessman...