Fingerprinting

Flashcards about fingerprinting

Early Methods of Identification

Methods of personal identification used in the ancient period due to repeat offenders receiving severe penalties.

Branding

Applying a permanent mark to the skin as a form of identification.

Mutilation

The act of cutting off or mutilating a body part as a form of identification.

Tattooing

Creating designs on the skin by inserting ink as a means of identification.

Descriptive Clothing

Identifying individuals based on the clothes they wear.

Measurement of the height

Measuring a person's height as a method of identification (Quetelet’s method).

Photographic Eye

Using photographs to capture and identify individuals (Eugene Francois Vidocq method).

Photographing

Taking photographs of individuals for identification purposes.

Anthropological Measurement or Bertillionage

A method of criminal identification introduced by Alphonse Bertillion, a French Anthropologist, based on the measurement of specific body parts.

Will West

Convicted of a crime and committed to the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas only to have authorities discover he had the same Bertillion measurements as William West.

William West

Had the same Bertillion measurements as Will West; prison records discovered later found that the West men were apparently identical twin brothers and each had a record of correspondence with the same immediate family relatives.

Ancient China Fingerprinting History

The earliest known use of fingerprints can be traced back to this country, where they were used on official documents and business transactions during the T'ang Dynasty.

Nehemiah Grew

A British doctor and fellow of the Royal Society and College of Physicians, he introduced several ridge patterns of fingerprints in 1684; his study was purely anatomical.

Marcelo Malphigi

An Italian physician and plant morphologist who conducted a research study similar to Grew and introduced the ridges, spirals, and loops in fingerprints in 1686.

Stratum Malphigi

A layer of skin named after Marcelo Malphigi, approximately 1.8mm thick.

J C Mayer

A German who theorized in 1798 that the arrangement of friction ridge is unique.

Prof. Johannes Evangelist Purkinje

A Czechoslovakian physiologist who published his doctoral thesis in 1823 describing and illustrating fingerprints ridge formation into nine different types.

William James Herschel

Employee of East India Company, who wanted a good way to seal a contract with a Bengali Firm and opted to use a fingerprint on the contract in 1858.

Dr. Henry Faulds

A Scottish missionary doctor who conducted a careful experiment and observation of fingerprint patterns in the hospital he established in Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan in 1880.

Sir Francis Galton

An English physician and anthropologist, published an in-depth study of fingerprinting science in 1892 that included the system of classification.

Juan Vucetich

Policeman in Argentina was the first person to put Galton’s system of classification into practice

Edward Richard Henry

The Inspector General of the Bengal Police (India), adopted his own system of classification different from the classification introduced by Galton and Vucetich in 1897.

William Herschel

Started to experiment with the science of fingerprinting in India in 1858.

1869

England legislated the Habitual Criminals Act which provides longer sentences for hardened criminals with previous convictions

Hendry Faulds

Becomes the first person to publicly suggest fingerprints as a method of criminal identification in 1880.

Alphonse Bertillon

In Paris, introduced the anthropometric system of measurements in 1883.

Juan Vucetich

The first murder case solved through the use of fingerprint in Argentina in 1892.

1894

Britain adopts an identification system which is a combination of anthropometry by Bertillon and fingerprints in 1894.

Adolf Beck

The reliability of fingerprint was tested when Adolf Beck was jailed for several years after he was falsely identified as the perpetrator of the crime in 1896

Criminal Investigation Bureau

The National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, based in Chicago, Illinois, was established in 1897.

Bertillon

The Canadian police services adopted criminal identification using a system introduced by Bertillon in 1898.

Belper Committee

The Belper Committee in England was established to look into “the working of the method of Identification of Criminals by Measurement and Fingerprint” in 1900.

Edward Henry

Edward Henry was appointed as head of Scotland Yard’s new Fingerprint Branch on July 1901.

Harry Jackson

The first conviction in the U.K. of an individual was made as a result of fingerprints found at the scene of the crime in June 1902.

Vindicated

Fingerprinting as a means of identification had been vindicated in the English courts in 1902.

NY Civil Service Commission

The New York City Civil Service Commission started using fingerprints to prevent impersonations during examinations in 1903.

Stratton Brothers

Hendry Faulds sided with Stratton Brothers when the duo was charged with murder of Thomas and Farrow in 1905

Thomas Jennings

The first conviction of U.S court using fingerprint as evidence. Thomas Jennings was convicted of the crime of murder in 1911.

Alphonse Bertillon

The founder of anthropometric system, Alphonse Bertillon dies in 1913.

IAI

The International Association for Criminal Identification (IAI) was established in 1915.

FBI Identification Division

The FBI Identification Division is created, after the records of the National Bureau of Criminal Identification and the Leavenworth Penitentiary Bureau were consolidated in 1924.

Dr. Henry Faulds

Finger Print pioneer Dr. Henry Faulds dies in 1930.

Palm print cases

The first palm print case was brought before the English court in 1931.

Scotland Yard Fingerprint Bureau

Computerization of Scotland Yard Fingerprint Bureau was initiated and successfully entered most two millions fingerprints sets in 1964.

Lifting Prints

The technique of ‘lifting’ prints became acceptable practice in the British police for the first time in 1970.

International Association for Identification

States that “no valid basis exists at this time for requiring that a pre-determined minimum of friction ridge characteristics must be present in two impressions in order to establish positive identification” in 1973.

International Symposium on Fingerprint detection and identification (1995).

“No scientific basis exists for requiring that a predetermined minimum number of friction ridge features must be present in two impressions in order to establish a positive identification

FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigation install massive fingerprint computer capable of storing the fingerprints of 65 million individuals in 1999

Anthropometry

The art of personal identification through body measurement

Dactylography

The art of fingerprint recording for identification purposes or the scientific study of fingerprints as a means of identification.

Dactyloscopy

The science of fingerprint, deriving from the words “dactylos” and “skopien”.

Dissociated Ridges

Separated or unpatterned ridges.

Edgeoscopy

The study of the characteristics of the ridge edge for comparison purposes.

Fingerprint

A reproduction of some smooth surface of the hand formed by the ridges and furrow.

Friction Ridge

Raised strips of the skin on the inside of the end joints of the fingers and thumbs by which fingerprints are made.

Papillary Skin

Skin of the body which does not have hair or which does not bare hair.

Polydactylism

The appearance of extra fingers as anatomically known.

Pores

Are tiny holes of the skin where sweat and other secretion may come out.

Ridgeology

The study of poroscopy, edgeoscopy, and ridge characteristics for the purpose of the positive identification of fingerprints.

Scar

Mark caused by healed wound where the injury is up to the dermis.

Sloughing Process

Process of healing of fingerprint that has been destroyed.

Chiroscopy

The science that deals with the study of the palm print in relation to identification.

Thenar Zone

Located at the base of the thumb; latent impression or prints of this area are usually found on bottles, glasses, pipes, or others which may be used as a weapon.

Hypothenar Zone

Contains a large cushion area which is present below the base of the little finger; latent impression of this area is commonly on question documents or papers involve in writing.

Palmar Zone

Cushion present at the base of fingers; for latent impression investigation, this may appear on window sills, counter or table tops when the suspect requires support for climbing.

Carpal Delta Zone

Area about the center of the palm down near the wrist where a delta is frequently present;

Proximal Zone

Toward the wrist.

Distal Area

Toward the tip of the fingers.

Ulnar Side/Zone

Toward the ulnar bone or toward the little finger.

Radial Zone/Side

Toward the radius bone or toward the thumb.

Podoscopy

The science that deals with the study of the sole of the human foot for identification purposes.

Ball Zone

This area is found below the base of the big toe. It may contain loops, whorl or combination of these patterns in some footprints it is devoid of any pattern and will show a series of ridge formation running across the area.

Plantar Zone

This is the space just below the base of the four little toes just beside the ball zone .

Calcar Zone

This is the area located at the heel. In frequent pattern do show in this zone. What commonly appear are plain striations of ridges running from one side of the other.

Tibial Zone

This zone is an area on the tibial bone side of the foot where the big toe is also located. It is very rare that the patterns may appear on this zone.

Fibular Zone

This zone is situated on the little toe side of the foot just below the plantar zone.

Tread Area

This is an area, which includes that portion of the foot lying between the ball- plantar zones and calcar zone

Poroscopy

The science that deals with of the study human pores or sweat gland. This method identification is introduced by Edmond Locard.

Skin

Fingerprints are found within this organ. It is the body’s largest organ.

Integumentary System

The skin is part of this system, weighing about 4.5 to 5 kg in an average built adult male and has a total width at approximately two (2) square meters.

Friction Skin

Epidermal hairless skin usually found in the palms and soles. This is where fingerprints are formed.

Ridges

Are known as friction ridges, epidermal ridges, or papillary ridges.

Epidermis

The upper or the outer layer of the skin, is a tough, waterproof, protective layer.

Dermis

The lower or the inner layer of the skin. It is made up mainly of fibrous proteins and other large molecules.

Eccrine Glands

These are found in all parts of the body and are the only sweat glands found on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet.

Apocrine Glands

Those are found in the pubic mammary and anal areas.

Sebaceous Glands

These are located on the forehead, chest, back and abdomen with an oily secretion

Ridges

Tiny elevation or hill of friction skin.

Furrows

Are the depressions or canal between ridges.

Bifurcation

One single ridge that split into two or more branches or the forking or the splitting of one ridge into two branches.

Ridge Enclosure

A ridge formed by a bifurcation but which does not remain open, after running along side by side for a short distance, the splitting ridge meet again to form a single ridge.

Ridge Ending

A point where ridge terminates or ends.

Ridge Bridge

A ridge that connects one ridge to the other

Diverging Ridge

Is the splitting apart of two ridges after running parallel.

Converging Ridge

The meeting of two ridges running parallel.

Ridge Hook or Spur

Is a bifurcation in which one branch is remarkably short, ending near the original split or fork.

Dot

A very short island, of basically equal length and width.

Appendage

A short ridge at the top or summit of a recurve usually at the right angle.

Short Ridge

Ridge which are remarkably short than the other.

Fragmentary Ridge

Group or series of short ridges less than 3mm in length.