Bertillonage Research Paper

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Alphonse Bertillon, a Parisian anthropologist, and police desk clerk developed a method for identifying criminals that became known as the Bertillonage technique. Bertillonage was a system created in the 1800’s by which measurements of the body are taken for classification and comparison purposes (Pike, n.d.). His technique charted the length of a fingerprint, the fingerprint’s pattern, a person’s sex, and even whether someone smokes or not Although the Bertillonage technique is no longer used based off of insignificant inaccuracy identification, the technique birthed the idea of fingerprinting.
Fingerprints are mapped through tiny ridges, valleys, and whorls on the tip of each finger. No two people have the same fingerprints because they are …show more content…

Fingerprints obtain more uniqueness than DNA based off of each person’s genetic material. So what about identical twins? Although identical twins may have the same DNA, they will not have the same exact fingerprints. This form of biometrics is ideal for biometric systems because they are easy to classify and sort, without any change in appearance or structure. If fingerprints are so unique and refined, how can they be recorded accurately? Fingerprint scanning has already been implemented into business to effectively enhance security and authentications. When scanning a fingerprint, a scanner has to have a pre-saved image of the authorized finger to compare images in a linked database to allow access. In order to allay privacy concerns, however, fingerprint scanners do not store actual fingerprint images. Instead unique characteristics of the fingerprint are analyzed and stored as an encrypted mathematical representation (Ballard, 2016). Businesses are hoping to safeguard their sensitive data by using this form biometrics as a viable option because of the several benefits and low costs. This is a easy to use system with cheap equipment that generally requires low power consumption. However, the disadvantage is that if the surface of the finger is damaged or contains any marks, the identification becomes increasingly difficult. Fingerprint security systems are already

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