Criminal Investigations 1

This class started off a little slow, reading through the class schedule and policies. Though when we first entered the room Mr. Clark had a slide show going of past cases he had worked on. They were not something most people would enjoy to see. They were all photos of people that had been killed one way or another. Mr. Clark had mentioned if it bothered anyone or if anyone was not interested in learning anything that had to do with this, they could feel free to leave the class right then and there and drop it and/or change their major. I didn't care so much about the pictures, being the nosey girl that I am I wanted to know the story behind each photo, why did they die, who did it, how was it done? Well we are not going to get into that just yet. But I will begin with what we began with. That is Fingerprinting.

History of Fingerprinting
(From a handout)
As far back as the eighth century (A.D) the T'ang Dynasty refer to the use of fingerprints being impressed upon business contracts. The following is a brief development of how fingerprints have shaped modern law Enforcement.

1880's- Sir Francis Galton, a noted British anthropologist, began observations which led to the publication, in 1892, of his book "Finger Prints." Galton's studies established the individuality and permanence of fingerprints. He also devised the first scientific method of fingerprint classification.

1892-The first installation of fingerprint files as an official means of criminal identification. Juan Vucetich, an Argentinian police official, base his system on the patterns by Sir Francis Galton. He also claimed the first official criminal identification by means of fingerprints left at a crime scene.

A woman who had murdered her two songs and cut her own throat, though not fatally (in 1892), blamed the attacks on a neighbor. Bloody fingerprints found on a doorpost were identifid by Vucetich as those of the woman herself and led to her confession.

1901-Marked the official introduction of fingerprinting for criminal identification in England and Wales. The system employed was also developed from Galton's observations and was devised by Mr.-later Sir- Edward Henry, then Inspector General of Police. He later served as Commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police. Henry simplified fingerprint classification and made it applicable to police identification. His system and that devised by Vucetich form the basis of all modern ten finger fingerprint identification systems. It is the basic HENRY SYSTEM, with modifications and extensions, which is used by the FBI and throughout the United States today.

1924-On July 1, 1924, Congress established the Identification Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The fingerprint record of the National Bureau of Criminal Identification, The Leavenworth Penitentiary and the St. Louis Police Department, were consolidated to form the nucleus of the FBI files.