FINGERPRINT
Subject: PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION TECHNIQUE
Activity Title: FINGERPRINT
Activity no:
Methods of identification through the ages
1. Tattoos- signified family clan tribal relations. But it can be duplicated, changed, or
disfigured. Today it signifies local membership or gangs.
2. Scarcification- done by cutting on various parts of the body thus leaving scars forming
elaborate designs.
3. Personal Description/Portralt Parle- Speaking likeness.
4. Photography- unreliable because of the angle at which photograph is taken.
5. Anthropometry- system of Identification based of the various bony structure of the human
body-introduced by Alphonse Bertillon. It can only be apply to adult. And it takes a long time
to learn and apply the system. It was a subject to error and duplication.
History of personal identification
Fingerprints offer an infallible means of personal identification. Other personal characteristics
change but fingerprints do not. Picture writing of a hand with ridge patterns was discovered
in Nova Scotia. In ancient Babylon, fingerprints were used on clay tablets for business
transactions. In ancient China, thumb prints were found on clay seals. In 14 th century Persia,
various official government papers had fingerprints(impressions), and one government
official, a doctor, observed that no two fingerprints were exactly alike. In earlier civilizations,
branding and even maiming were used to mark the criminal for what he was. The Romans
tattooed to identify and prevent desertion of mercenary soldiers. More recently, law
enforcement officers with extraordinary visual memories, so-called “camera eyes,” identified
old offenders by sight. Photography lessened the burden on memory but was not the answer
to the criminal identification problem. Personal appearances change.
Around 1870 a French anthropologist devised a system to measure and record the
dimensions of certain bony parts of the body. These measurements were reduced to a
formula which, theoretically, would apply only to one person and would not change during
his/her adult life. This Bertillon System, named after its inventor, Alphonse Bertillon, was
generally accepted for thirty years. In 1903, when a man named Will West was sentenced to
the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. There was already a prisoner at the
penitentiary at the time, whose Bertillon measurements were nearly exact, and his name was
William West. Upon an investigation, there were indeed two men. They looked exactly alike,
but were allegedly not related. Their names were Will and William West respectively. Their
Bertillon measurements were close enough to identify them as the same person. A
fingerprint comparison quickly and correctly identified them as two different people. The
West men were apparently identical twin brothers per indications in later discovered prison
records citing correspondence from the same immediate family relatives
Pioneers in the study of fingerprint and their contribution
1. Dr. Nehemiah Grew
He presented his observation on the appearance of the ridges on the fingers and palm.
Entitled “Philosophical Transaction” In 1684 before the Royal Society of London, England. He
described the pores and the arrangement of ridges and showed a drawing of the
configurations of the same on the same palms.
2. Govard Bidloo (1685)
In 1685 he published “Anatomia Humanis Corporis” (Anatomy of the Human Body) which
described details of the friction skin of the thumb. He had in that publication drawing of a
thumb depicting the arrangement of the ridges, however, its description was morphological
in nature and not on its individuality. A drawing of thumb depicting the arrangement of
ridges.
3. Dr. Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694)
An Italian Anatomist, who published the work, “De Externo Tactus Organo” (Concerning the
External Tactile Organs). He described that ridge found in the palm surface of the hand which
course in diverse designs and the pores which served as the mouth of the sweet glands. He
discovered the inner and outer structure of the skin: he named the inner layer as DERMIS and
the outer layer as EPIDERMIS.
4. Herman Welcker (1856)
He undertook an experiment by printing his right palm to prove himself if the ridges change.
By 1897. Forty-one years later, he again printed his right palm. After a year he published this
palm prints. It proved that the ridge characteristics do not change. “Principle of permanency”
5. Johann Christoph Andreas (JCA) Mayer (1788)
In 1788, JCA Mayer wrote in his illustrated textbook “Anatomical Copper-plates with
Appropriate Explanations” that the arrangement of skin ridges in never duplicated in two
persons, thus he was the first to write that friction ridge skin is unique. In his explanation he
clearly pronounces one of the fundamental principles of fingerprint that is the principle of
individuality.
6. Dr. Johaness E. Purkinje (1787-1869)
A Bohemian (Czechoslovakian) physiologist who devised new methods of preparing
microscope samples, and discovered sweat pores. He was the first person to name the
patterns on the fingers but never mentioned using them for personal Identification. He
distinguished and named 9 fingerprint patterns, officially published in December 22, 1823, at
the city of Breslau Germany:
9 fingerprint patterns by Purkinje:
1. The transverse curve (Plain Arch)
2. The Central Longitudinal Stripe (Tented Arch)
3. The Oblique Stripe (Loop-Radial and Ulnar)
4. The Oblique Loop (Loop-Radial and Ulnar)
5. The Almond (Whorl)
6. The Spiral (Whart)
7. The Ellipse-Elliptical Whorl (Whorl)
8. The Circle-Circular Whorl (Whorl
9. The Double Whorl (Composite Twin Whorl).
7. Sir William James Herschel (1833-1917)
In 1916, he published a 41 pages book. “The Origin of Fingerprint”, which described his
research starting 1858 when he practiced actual recording of the finger and palm prints of
the natives of India. Herschel described to place the native entire palm on the document as
safeguard against repudiation of signatures. In 1877, he wrote to his superior suggesting that
fingerprint be used to prevent impersonation and further request permission to enumerate
the fingerprint system in all jails in India.
Fingerprints in the Philippines
In the Philippines, fingerprinting started in 1900s through the Americans. According to local
forensic monographs in the country, a name Generoso Reyes was frequently mentioned. It
was alleged that he was the first fingerprint technician employed by the Philippine
Constabulary sometime in the 1930s. This higher educational institution is formerly known as
Plaridel Educational Institute. The subject Personal Identification was included in the
Criminology curriculum. May 14 1967 Lucila Lalu the first Filipina chop-chop lady was
identified through systematic classification of her fingerprint. Her identification served as an
investigative lead towards the identification of the possible culprits. In 1968 According to the
Bureau of Prisons, fingerprints were first systematically used as part of the carpeta or also
known as prisoner’s record. While Isabela Bernales was the first Filipina Fingerprint
Technician It is not safe to assume that he is one of the soldiers who were present in the
1904 St. The AFIS is a biometrics system for automated fingerprint identification that consists
of a database of fingerprint records used for criminal identification purposes. As part of
assisting law enforcement, the AFIS enables sets of fingerprints recovered from crime scenes
to be compared and matched against a database of known and unknown fingerprints. Police
departments still use fingerprinting today to identify criminals.
There have been many advances in fingerprinting science.
Reference
Scribd. (n.d.). Personal identification techniques module. Scribd.
https://www.scribd.com/document/524675246/PERSONAL-IDENTIFICATION-TECHNIQUES-
MODULE
Name Date
Prepared by DELA CRUZ, KAREN JOY V. MAY 09, 2023
Year &
BS-CRIM 2DELTA
Section
