Personal identification

• Law of Multiplicity of Evidence


  The greater the number of points of similarities and dissimilarities of two persons compared, the greater is the probability for the conclusion to be correct
• Value of different points of identification

  • In fresh cadaver, fingerprints on file are the same as those recovered from the crime scene will positively establish the identity of the person, while bodily marks, like moles, scars, complexion, shape of nose, and others, are merely corroborative
  • Visual recognition by relative or friends may be of lesser value as compared with fingerprints or dental comparison
• Identification of remains


  • The longer the interval between the death and the examination of the remains for purposes of identification, the greater is the need for experts in establishing identity
  • The process of taking fingerprints and its examination under a magnifying lens requires the services of an expert
  • When putrefaction has set in, the external body marks useful in the identification might be destroyed so that it is necessary to resort to an anatomical or structural examination of the body which requires the knowledge of medicine and dentistry
• In as much as the object to be identified is highly perishable, it is necessary for the team to act in the shortest possible time specially in cases of mass disaster
• There is no rigid rule to be observed in the procedure of identification of persons
• Comparison identification


  1. Criteria recovered during investigation are compared with records available in the file, or post mortem findings are compared with ante mortem records

  2. Latent fingerprint recovered from the crime scene are compared with the fingerprints on file of an investigating agency

  3. Dental findings on the skeletal remains are compared with the dental record of the person in possession of the dentist
• Identification by exclusion


  If two persons have to be identified and all but one is not yet identified, then the one whose identity has been established may be known as the process of elimination
• Bases of human identification


  • Those which layman used to prove identity - no special training or skill is required of the identifier and no instrument or procedure is demanded
  • Those which are based on scientific knowledge - identification is made by trained men, well-seasoned by experience and observation, primarily based on comparison or exclusion
• Characteristics which may easily be changed

  • Growth of hair, beard, and mustache
  • Clothing
  • Frequent place of visit
  • Grade of profession
  • Body ornamentation
• Characteristics that may not easily be changed

  • Mental memory
  • Speech
  • Gait
  • Mannerisms
  • Hands and feet
  • Complexion
  • Changes in the eye
  • Facies
  • Left or right handedness
  • Degree of nutrition
• Points of identification applicable to both living and dead before onset of decomposition


  • Occupational Marks
  • Race
  • Stature (height)
  • Teeth
  • Tattoo marks
  • Deformities
  • Birth marks
  • Injuries leaving permanent result
  • Moles
  • Scar
  • Tribal marks
  • Sexual organs
  • Blood examination
• Portrait Parle (Personal description)

  A verbal, accurate and picturesque description of the person identified
• Photography


  Photography was first applied as a means of personal identification in police works
• Anthropometry (Bertillon System)


  Alphonse Bertillon, a French criminologist, devised a scheme utilizing measurement of the human body as basis of identification
• Basis of the Bertillon's method of identification: a) Human skeleton does not change after 20 years, b) It is impossible for two human beings to have bones alike, c) Measurement easily taken with the aid of a simple instrument
• Information included in the Bertillon system

  • Descriptive data - color of the hair, eyes, complexion, shape of the nose and others
  • Body marks - moles, scars, tattoo marks, deformities and others
  • Anthropometrical measurement: 1) Body measurement - height, width of outstretched arms, and sitting height, 2) Measurement of the head - length and breadth of head, bizygomatical diameter, and length of the right ear, 3) Measurement of the limbs - length of the left foot, length of the left middle and little fingers, length of the left arm and hand from elbow to the tip of outstretch middle fingers
• Scientific methods of personal identification

  • Fingerprinting
  • Handwriting Identification
  • Teeth (Odontology)
  • Identification of the skeletons
  • Determination of sex
  • Determination of age
  • Identification of blood and blood stains
  • Identification of hair and hair fibers
  • DNA Testing
• Fingerprints


  An impression design by the ridges on the joint of the fingers and thumb on a smooth surface through the media of ink, sweat or any substance capable of producing visibility
• Fingerprints are considered the most reliable method of personal identification
• Types of Phalanges or finger bones

  • Distal
  • Intermediate
  • Proximal
• Presidential Decree No. 1575 was promulgated, requiring practitioners of dentistry to keep records of their patients
• Bones that must be studied to determine the sex of skeletons

  • Pelvis
  • Skull
  • Sternum
  • Femur
  • Humerous
• Tests to determine the sex


  • Social test
  • Genital
  • Gonadal
  • Chromosomal
• DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid)


  1. adenine, C-cytosine, T-thymine, and G- guamine Sequence. It was considered as the latest method of personal identification, discovered by Prof. Alec Jeffreys in 1985
• Types of phalanges or finger bones

  • Distal phalanges-fingertips (Terminal) and joint
  • Medial (Middle) phalanges -intermediate in location (except for thumb and toe)
  • Proximal phalanges - closest to the hand
• There are 56 phalanges in the human body, fourteen on each hand and toe
• Carpal bones


  A set of 8 irregularly shaped bones located on the wrist area
• Metacarpals


  5 bones, each one related to each finger
• Palmar side


  Front of the hand
• Dorsal


  Back of the hand
• Plantar


  Pertaining to the sole of the feet
• Ball zone

  A large cushion below the base of the big toe, corresponds to the thenar zone in palm prints
• Thenar zone


  A large cushion at the base of the thumb
• Hypothenar zone


  Embraces the large cushion below the base of the little finger
• Carpal delta zone


  An area about the center of the palm, down near the wrist
• Calcar zone


  The area at the heel
• Tibial zone


  The area on the big toe of the foot, derives from the tibia bone of the lower leg which corresponds to the radius bone of the forearm
• Dogmatic Principles of Fingerprint

  • Individuality
  • Constancy or permanency
  • Infallibility
• Individuality


  No two persons have the same fingerprint (based on statistical probability)
• Sir Francis Galton, father of Fingerprint Pattern, stated that if there is possibility for two prints to be the same it is: 1: 64,000,000,000