UNIT ONE: BASIC PRINCIPLES OF FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION

INTRODUCTION:
THE SCIENCE OF FINGERPRINTING

Fingerprints have been used as a means of identification for over 100 years and are unique to every individual.
Hence, fingerprint evidence plays a crucial role in criminal investigations.

Fingerprints are made up of intricate system f ridges which creates an uneven surface on the palms of the hand and
soles of the feet. It’s the arrangement of the ridges and their certain unique properties which a fingerprint expert will use to
make the identification.

The law enforcement agencies are indeed a vital part of the society who are tasked in the enforcement of laws.
Criminal Investigation is one of the cores of their functions as law enforcers in order for them to solve a crime and to let
justice prevail. Forensic science is indispensable in the investigation process which is of great help to the investigators to
cover other angles of the crime.

Lesson 1.1: Lesson 1.1: WHAT IS FORENSIC SCIENCE?

The term FORENSIC SCIENCE, is generally defines as the application of scientific technique and principles in
order to provide evidence to legal or related investigations and determination. Essentially, it is the application of scientific
knowledge and technology to the definition and enforcement of criminal and civil law.

It investigates the links between the people, places, things, and events that occur during a crime.
"CRIMINALISTICS" is another term for forensic science.

The focus of FORENSIC SCEINCE is the CRIME LABORATORY using the principles and techniques of Biology,
Chemistry, Physics, Geology, Anthropology and other sciences in order to place physical evidence into a professional
discipline.

The word “forensic”, whose earliest meaning in English is “belonging to, used in, or suitable to courts or to public
discussion and debate.” was derived from a Latin word forum, meaning a marketplace, where people gather for "public
disputation" or "public discussion". The word forensic in today’s world simply means the application of something to a
legal situation.

Therefore, on its own, the word forensic means very little. But when used in the terms” FORENSIC SCIENCE” it
means applying a science into a legal setting. The important word here is SCIENCE. Therefore, one should take note that a
person CANNOT be a forensic scientist without first being a scientist, and a very good and well educated scientist as you
will not only be analyzing and interpreting evidence which could be responsible for setting a person free or imprisoning
them for life, but also you will and should be challenged to the utmost during the cross-examination in court. Because when
forensic science is used in court, then the side, the prosecution or the defense, that's presenting that forensic evidence has to
convince the judge or the jury of the validity of that forensic evidence. Sometimes it's difficult to convince the court of the
validity of scientific evidence. Especially because the members of the court, the judge and the jury, will generally not have
any scientific training themselves.

Lesson 1.2: WHAT IS PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION?

Personal identification is defined as establishing the identity of an individual. The need for personal identification
arises in natural mass disasters like earth quakes, tsunamis, landslides, floods etc., and in man-made disasters such as
terrorist attacks, bomb blasts, mass murders, and in cases when the body is highly decomposed or dismembered to
deliberately conceal the identity of the individual.
The need to identify the dead is obvious for social and medico-legal purposes. Various techniques of biological
anthropology are employed in the process of identifying the individuals from the bones or the body parts. The identification
of the dead from the bones/ body parts in a legal setting forms an essential component of forensic anthropology. The
foremost task in achieving the personal identification is to establish whether the skeletal remains are human or not. If the
remains belong to a human being, then various anthropological techniques can be used to identify the dead.

The ‘big fours’ of personal identification are determination of age, sex, stature and ethnicity. These form the features
of ‘tentative identification’.

IDENTIFICATION is a method of determination of individuality or recognition of a person. It may be complete or

partial.
 Complete identification means the absolute fixation of individuality and
 Partial identification is ascertainment of only some facts of identity of a person while others remain
unknown.

Absolute personal identification is essential broadly in the fields like, Forensic applications, Medical purposes,
Legal purposes and Civilian applications.

It is common experience that only visual identification is not reliable in majority of cases. Therefore it is a normal
practice that, at least two important marks of identification must be noted and described in detail in all certificates relating
to either the living or the dead. In legal matters left thumb impression is taken as mark of identity.

Evolution of scientific person identification dates back in 1883, when Alphonse Bertillon, a French police officer
and expert criminologist introduced the system of recording a detailed physical description (known as "portrait parle")
including precise body measurements (anthropometry) of a subject, as data for identification. It is based on the principle
that measurements of various parts of human body do not alter after the adult age (21 years) and that no two persons show
same measurements in all respects.

The system is therefore applicable to adults only. It consists of registration of individual characteristics under the
following four heads:
a) Descriptive Data like color of hair, eyes, complexion, shape of nose, ears, chin, color of left iris, etc.
b) Bodily Marks like moles, scars, tattoo marks, etc.
c) Bodily Measurements like standing and sitting heights, length and breadth of the head, breadth of the face, length
of the right ear, span of the outstretched arms, length of the left foot, length of the left middle finger, length of the left little
finger, length of the left forearm and hand.
d) Photograph of the full face and right profile.

Bertillon's method of scientific indexing and filling of the physical descriptions of a person for the purpose of his
future identification suffers from the following drawbacks:

(i) It is applicable to the adults only and identification of children is not possible,
(ii) Personal factor in measurements introduces many errors making absolute identification impossible,
(iii) The system requires delicate instruments and well trained operators,
(iv) Photographs in themselves are not quite reliable as a means of identification unless minute details are
considered.

Lesson 1.3: HISTORY OF FINGERPRINT

The development of fingerprint science predates the Christian era by many centuries. Pre-historic Indian picture of
hand with crudely marked ridge patterns, fingerprints impressions on clay tablets recording business transactions in ancient
Babylon, and clay seals of ancient Chinese origin bearing thumb prints were found as evidence of early use of fingerprint
as identification of person impressing the prints.
The formal study began as early as 1685 but has finally gained official use in 1858 by Sir William James Herschel,
a British chief administrative officer in Hoogly District of Bengal India. Herschel used fingerprints in India to prevent
fraudulent collection of army pay accounts and for identity on other documents.
It was in 1882 when the first authentic record of official use of fingerprints was noted in USA.
In 1891, Juan Vucetich, an Argentinian Police, used a system of fingerprint as criminal identification based on Sir
Francis Galton’s studies.
As early as the start of the 20th century, fingerprint use in criminal investigation has gained widespread acceptance
across the US and was adopted in use by the different branches of the United States Armed Forces. The use of fingerprint
since then had begun to take its toll. The United States has fostered the fingerprint development to its most intricate system.
 Today, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Identification files are rapidly approaching 200 million sets of
fingerprints- the largest collection in the world.

Lesson 1.4: WHY FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION?

Fingerprints offer an infallible means of personal identification. The science of fingerprint Identification stands out
among all other forensic sciences for many reasons. Including the following:

 Has served all governments worldwide in providing accurate identification of criminals. No two fingerprints have
ever been found alike in many billions of human and automated computer comparisons. Fingerprints are the very
basis for criminal history foundation at every police agency.
 Established the first forensic professional organization, the International Association for Identification in 1915.
 Established the first professional certification program for forensic scientist, the IAI’s Certified Latent Print
Examiner program, issuing certification to those meeting stringent criteria and revoking certification for serious
errors such as erroneous identifications.
 Remains the most commonly used forensic evidence worldwide-in most jurisdictions fingerprint examination cases
match or outnumbered all other forensic examination casework combined.
 Continues to expand as the premier method for identifying persons, with tens of thousands of persons added to
fingerprint repositories daily in America alone- far out phasing similar databases in growth.
 Out performs DNA, and all other human identification systems to identify more murderers, rapist and other serious
offenders.

Other visible human characteristics change-fingerprints do not. In earlier civilizations, branding and even maiming
were used to mark the criminal for what he was. The thief was deprived of the hand which committed the theft. The
romans employed the tattoo needle to identify and prevent desertion of mercenary

Before the mid – 1800S, law enforcement officers with extraordinary visual memories, so called “camera eyes,
identified previously arrested offenders by sight. Photography lessened the burden on memory but was not the answer
to the criminal identification problem because personal appearance change.
ASSIGNMENT:
INSTRUCTIONS: WRITE YOUR ANSWER IN YOUR NOTEBOOK AS WELL AS UPLOAD A CLEAR IMAGE COPY
OF YOU OUTPUT IN OUR LMS (PRELIM-ASSIGNMENT ONE)
1. Research about the METHOD OF INDETIFICATION BEFORE THE SCIENCE OF FINGERPRINT:
a. Tattoo Marks b. Scar Marks c. Anthropometry
How this method was used in Personal Identification?

2. Who is Alphonse Bertillon?

3. What do we mean by Bertillon System?
4. Who is Marcello Malpighi and what are his contribution in the development of fingerprinting?
5. Who is John Evangelist Purkinje and what are his contribution in the development of fingerprinting?
6. Who Sir William James Herschel and what are his contribution in the development of fingerprinting?
7. Who is Sir Edward Richard Henry and what are his contribution in the development of fingerprinting?

ENHANCEMENT ACTIVITY:
INSTRUCTIONS:
1 Click this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3HVGZU-Z68
2. Watch the video and create a historical timeline regarding the development of fingerprint.
(https://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/timeline.html Click this link to learn about how to create a historical timeline)
3. It must be created using Microsoft word and saves PDF file.
4. Upload your output in out LMS (Historical Timeline-PT)