18-05-2012, 03:17 PM
DACTYLOGRAPHY
ABSTRACT:
Dactylography is the scientific study of finger prints to uniquely identify someone. A fingerprint is the pattern on the inside of the finger in the area between the tip and the first joint, and stays the same from the day of a person's birth to the day he dies. These two facts make fingerprints very useful in identifying somebody beyond any doubt, and this is why police forces find them invaluable in tracking down a criminal. In more than 100 years of fingerprint records keeping no two identical sets have ever been found, even on identical twins. The scientific study is used as a technique of crime detection by practically every modern law enforcement agency. Other government agencies and many private businesses also use fingerprints for identification purposes. The largest collection of finger prints is held by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in America.
Modern governments keep a central file of the fingerprints of all known criminals, in addition to many other classifications of citizens. In the United States, for example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has a file that includes all present and past members of the armed forces, all federal and state government employees, and many private citizens. In the late 1960's the FBI files contained the fingerprints of more than 179 million people, or more than four-fifths of the American population.
This paper outlines the initial work and a start to what will become the future vision. Also the practical results which followed the study of finger-prints are enumerated, and the future prospects of the subject outlined. Fingerprint analysis emerged in the early 20th century, when it was the first method in forensic science for unique identification. As a result of its early success, it acquired a mystique of infallibility. It has only recently been subjected to systematic analysis by investigators from outside the field.