Identifying Criminals History
- a short one
Early Criminal Characteristics
Ideas
How an individual’s physical
characteristics were used to predict
criminal behavior
Phrenology
• Proposed by Dr. Franz
Gall in 1796
• Said a person’s
qualities & abilities
are traced to a part of
the brain
• Thinking changed
shape of the skull
(bumps)
• Is not true
Cesare Lombroso
• Italian psychiatrist in the mid-19th century
• Studied 7000 criminals to prove criminal types
could be I.D. by physical characteristics
• E.g.:
– Swindlers and bandits larger-than-normal heads
– Thieves & highwaymen had thick hair & beards
• Never proved his ideas but invented many
instruments to try
Anthropometry
“Man Measurement”
• Proposed in 1883 by Alphonse Bertillon
• Concluded no two human beings have the same
measurements
• Developed method of identifying criminals by
their measurements
• Bertillonage was adapted as a system of I.D. by
France
• Was replaced by fingerprinting
• Responsible for the precursor of the “mug-shot”
Fingerprinting History
William Herschel
• Administrative clerk in India
• Used fingerprints to ID claimants
• Recognized patterns did not change with
age
Dr. Henry Faulds
• Scottish physiologist
• Credited w/ 1st documented crime solved
by fingerprint comparison (Tokyo)
• ID’d thief from print left @ scene
Sir Francis Galton
• 1892 - publishes Finger Prints
• Discusses anatomy of fingerprints &
suggests method for recording them
Juan Vucetich
• 1892 - claimed the 1st official criminal ID
using fingerprints to solve a crime
– Children of a women named Rojas were
murdered
– Blamed a neighbor
– Bloody fingerpint found at the scene (doorpost)
– Turned out to be her right thumb
– She confessed
Sir Edward Henry
• Used Galton’s work to develop a fingerprint
identification system
• His system & Vucetich form the basis of all
modern ten-finger fingerprint ID systems
• The basic Henry System, w/ modifications
& extensions is utilized by the FBI and
other law enforcement agencies in the US
1903- Will West v. William West
• Showed the fallibility of 3 separate ID
systems
• Personal ID-photographs
• Bertillion System - Body part
Measurements
• Names
Process Used to Analyze Prints
ACE-V
A – Analysis
qualitative & quantitative assessment of
details including pattern, minutia, &
presence of scars, breaks, pores, etc.
C – Comparison
comparison of attributes from analysis
between 2 fingerprints
ACE-V cont.
E – Evaluation
decision of 1 of the following:
• Match (individualization)
• Non-match
• Insufficient data
V – Verification
independent ACE steps by a 2nd qualified
analyst
The 3 Main Patterns of Prints
Arch- 5%
Loop- 60%
Whorl- 35%
Plain Arch
• Ridges enter from 1
side of the print
• Rise or wave in center
• Flow or tend to flow
out the opposite side
Tented Arch
• Posseses either an
angle, upward thrust
or 2 of 3 basic loop
characteristics
Loop Patterns
• 1 or more ridges enter from either side,
recurve, touch or pass an imaginary line
between delta & core and pass out or tend to
pass out the same side the ridges entered
• 3 basic characteristics:
– Sufficient recurve
– Delta
– Ridge Count - Across a looping ridge
Ulnar Loop (Right hand)
• Loops flow toward the
little finger of the hand
– Ulna Bone
• The direction of the
flow applies to the
fingers on the hand,
not as they appear on
the card.
Radial Loop (Right Hand)
• Loops flow toward the
thumb
– Radial bone
• The direction of the
flow applies to the
fingers on the hand,
not as they appear on
the card.
Whorls
• The following characteristics are the
MINIMUM required for a print to be
classified a whorl pattern:
– 2 deltas and a recurve in front of each delta
– It can be a pattern spiral, oval, circular, or any
variant of a circle
Plain Whorl
• 1 or more ridges that
make or tend to make
a complete circuit, w/
2 deltas, between
which, when an
imaginary line is
drawn, at least 1 ridge
within the inner
pattern is cut or
touched
Deltas
Central pocket whorl
• Consists of at least 1
recurving ridge, or an
obstruction at right
angles to the line of
flow w/ 2 deltas
between which, when
an imaginary line is
drawn, at least 1 ridge
within the inner
pattern is cut or
touched
Deltas
Double loop whorl
• Consists of 2 separate
loop formations, w/ 2
separate and distinct
sets of shoulders and
deltas
Accidental Whorl
• Consist of a combination of
2 different types of patterns
w/ the exception of the plain
arch, w/ 2 or more deltas or
a pattern that possesses
some of the requirements for
2 or more different types or
a pattern which conforms to
none of the definitions
2nd Level of Print Identification
Minutiae (a.k.a. Ridge
characteristics)
• Bifurcation
• Island
• Enclosure
• Short ridge
Minutiae cont.
• Ridge ending/Abrupt ending
• Bridge
• Trifurcation
3rd level of identification
Scars
Pores
Creases
Line Shape
Temporary marks
Wart
IAFIS
• Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification
Service
• Maintained by FBI
• Only allowed so many entrees per day
• Contains over 47 million criminals’ prints
• Computers use algorithms
– Some reduce image to specific points or minutia
– Some divide print into cells & retain info about
general pattern of ridges (e.g. direction of ridges in
cell)