Personal Identification

• CHINESE known as first user of fingerprint as part of their rituals until they utilize it in signing of a contract on the part of the illiterate, they called it Hua Chi.
• Chinese -They are also known as the first culture used fingerprint as means of identification.
• -The first Chinese ruler, Emperor Te’in Shi (246-210 BC) who utilized seal carved from white jade, one side of it was the name of the owner and on the other side the thumb mark of the poor or illiterate.
• -Ancient Babylonian civilization used clay tablets for transactions.

  
• Marcello Malpighi (1686)

  -Considered as the Grandfather of Dactyloscopy;---Professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, he originated the term “Ridges, Loops and Whorls”;

  -He depicted a layer of skin, the epidermis and dermis, later on was named after him “Malpighi  Layer” which 1.88 mm thick.

  
• MALPIGHI LAYER

  
• J.C. Mayer (1788)

  -stated that the skin ridges is never duplicate in two persons, nevertheless, the similarities are close among the some individuals.
• John Evangelist Purkinje (1823)

  -Father of Dactyloscopy-Professor of anatomy at the University of Breslau, published his thesis discussing eight (8) fingerprint patterns, but he made no mention of the value of fingerprints for personal identification.

  
• Eight (8) Fingerprint Patterns

  
• Elaborates the equivalent in one letter of The Eight FP


  A, T, R, U, W, C, D, X
• Herman Welcker (1856)

  -Printed his own palms and after forty-one (41) years he printed the same palms to prove that fingerprint do not change. He established the Principle of Immutability of Fingerprint in his experiment.

  
• William Herschel (1880)

  -Chief Administrative Officer of Bengal used thumb impressions to identity workers. Herschel made a habit of requiring palm-prints, later on simply the prints of the Right Index and Middle Fingers on every contact made with the locals.
• Dr Henry Faulds

  -English Physician working in Tokyo, published a letter in the journal nature suggesting the use of fingerprints for identification purposes. -He studied “skin-furrows” after noticing finger marks on specimens of “pre-historic” pottery. -He claimed that fingerprint impressions would provide positive identification of the offender when caught.
• Gilbert Thompson (1882)

  -Used his own thumbprint on a document to prevent forgery.- -This is the first known use of fingerprint in the United States.

  
• Mark Twain

  -In Twain’s book, “Life on the Mississippi” a murdered was identified with the use of fingerprint identification. -His book “Pudd’n Head Wilson” is a dramatic book court trial on fingerprint identification.
• Alphonse Bertillon

  -A clerk in the prefecture of Police at Paris, France, devised a system of classification, known as Anthropometry or the Bertillon System, using measurements of parts of the body.

  • Bertillon’s system included measurements such as head length, length of the middle finger, length of the left foot and length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger.

  
• Juan Vucetich

  -An Argentine Police Official made the first criminal fingerprint identification in 1892 when he was able to identify Francis Rojas, a woman who murdered her two sons and cut her own throat in an attempt to place blame on another. Her bloody print was left on a door post, proving her identity as the murderer. -The Vucetich System was being used by Spanish speaking countries.
• 1901 – first official use of fingerprints in the USA by the New York City Service Commission.
• 1930 – National Fingerprint files was set up in America by the FBI.
• Sir Francis Galton

  -A British anthropologist, the first scientist of friction skin identification who established the first civil Bureau of Personal Identification in London, England. He also discovered the three (3) families of fingerprint, Loops, Whorls and Arches.
• Sir Edward Henry

  -Proposed a modified classification system which was adopted by Scotland Yard in 1901 which is still the basis for taking fingerprints in most English speaking countries.
• Sir Francis Galton: Loops, Whorls and Arches

  
• Mr Jones – (one who) first taught fingerprint in the Philippine Constabulary in the year 1900.
• BUREAU OF PRISON – records shows that in 1918, CARPENTEAS (Commitment and Conviction Records) already used fingerprint.
• GENOROSO REYES – First Filipino FP Technician employed by the Philippine Constabulary.
• ISABELA BERNALES – First Filipina FP Technician
• PP vs MEDINA -  first leading conviction based on FP leading judicial decision in the Phil Jurisprudence
• DACTYLOSCOPY – is a science that deals with the study of interpretation, classification of FP identification of pattern of FP classification formula. In Greek word, “Dactly” means Finger and “Skopien” means to study or examine.
• DACTYLOGRAPHY -  refers the scientific study of fingerprints as means of identification. This includes FP comparison and case presentation in courts.
• FINGERPRINT – is an impression designed by the ridges on the inside of the last joint of the finger or thumb on any smooth surface through the media of an media of an ink, sweat or any reagents capable of producing visibility.
• POLYDACTYLY  - this refers for having more than required number of fingers.

  
• Types of Polydactyly:

    1. Postaxial (Little Finger)

    2. Preaxial (Thumb); and

    3. Central (Ring, Middle and Index Finger)
• Poroscopy – in Greek word “poros” which means “pores or holes”. This refers to scientifically study of pores or small opening found on the surface of the skin.
• Chiroscopy – it came from the Greek word “cheir” which means hand. This refers to branch of science which deals with the study of palm of the hand.
• Podoscopy – the word “podos”  from the Greek word means foot. It focuses on the study of the soles of the feet.
• Palmistry or Chiromancy – in Greek cheir “hand”; manteia, “divination”  is the art of characterization and foretelling the future through the study of the palm, also known as palm reading  or chirology.
• 1. Individuality – a fingerprint is an individual characteristic

   

    - in 90 years since fingerprinting was generally introduced, out of the millions of sets of prints that have been taken, no two individuals have been found to have the same fingerprints.
• 2. Immutability – a fingerprint will remain unchanged during an individual’s lifetime

    - The ridges on the grasping surfaces of hands and on the soles of feet are present at birth and remain unchanged for life except for size as growth occurs.
• 3. Infallibility – every FP cannot be forged.

    - intentional scarring the skin only is self defeating, for it would be totally impossible to obliterate all ridge characteristics on the hand and the presence of permanent scars merely provides new characteristics for identification.

  They may be obscured by deep tissue damage that causes scarring, like burns for examples. However, these scars may also be useful as points of identification.
• Uses of Fingerprints 1.Identifying suspects;

  2.Provide identity for unidentified dead person;

  3.Identification of missing person;

  4.Detecting a criminal identity through fingerprints collected at the scene and determining recidivism or habitual delinquency;

  5.Verification or confirmation of public documents ;6.Issuing clearance; 7.Use in opening volts or doors; and

  8.Checking or verifying entry of unauthorized personnel.