Fingerprints

Science of Fingerprints

Fingerprints

Marks of the fingers have a long story of identity which the people keep on passing in many ways. People have prominent features on their hands and soles which make them distinct from other people. These features leave impressions of distinctive shapes after they come into contact with any object. The last finger joints' prints or impressions are known as fingerprints (www.ncjrs.gov).

History

Fingerprints have been around since the advent of mankind. Although the usage of fingerprints was not particularly restricted and realized for forensic purposes, but they have been used since long as marks of identity in various tasks. Shuffling back through the history depicts that ancient pottery in Asia, North America and Europe contained fingerprints for marking and authenticating the identity of the maker. Evidences from archaeology show that in China fingerprints served the purposes of signing off documents and sealing the possessions for the sake of marking identity.

This particular utilization from the history of mankind suggests that since the importance of fingerprints and their uniqueness is from the earliest times. People believed that there was something exclusive about the finger marks. The German anatomist, Mayer was the first one to assert the uniqueness of the finger marks. He explained that the arrangements of finger marks are such as it is never the same in two persons. The ridges of the skin have an arrangement which makes them inimitable in two persons (Simon, 2001).

Forensics

The term forensics brings to mind a wide array of terms and images, including crime, intrigue, bullet marks, autopsy, fingerprints and other various things. This is, however, a very diminutive portion of what forensics is all about. It is an extremely broad term applied to the scientific method which assists the law and in the enforcement of law (Miller, 2009).

Forensics and Fingerprints

Forensics makes use of various scientific methods for the findings and applications of strategies to catch the guilty. Sir Francis Galton was the first one to provide extensive insight and research into the intricacies of fingerprints and their utilization in the criminal persecution processes. The findings and the discoveries of the immensely effective method of fingerprints in forensic had replaced the previous system of investigation.

The previous system entailed the Bertillon method which made use of a different and lengthy method of identification. Earlier times also saw the classification of fingerprints and their patterns into three types, loops, whorls and arches. Galton asserted that depending on these three pattern types, no to persons can have identical or even similar fingerprints (Saferstein, 2011). The very first case to make use of fingerprints as the only source of investigation was a criminal murder case in Argentina. The Rojas case proved to be a homicide after the fingerprints were matched. Slowly, the usage of fingerprints became indispensable to the field of investigation and forensics. Owing to the immense requirement of accuracy in the forensics, criminology and law enforcement, a characteristic which marks the exclusivity of an individual and serves to be the key to all other ...