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 PrintsACE-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

Pores

Creases

Scars

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)