ABSTRACT
The French forensic criminologist Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914) invented the first scientific method for identifying criminals. His system, known as anthropometry or (after it become famous) bertillonage, involved taking measurements of people who had been arrested – their arm lengths, their head circumference, and so on – as well as making notations of (or photographing) their faces, ears, and scars. This system rested on the assumption that people’s bodies do not change in basic characteristics. Bertillon introduced his system in 1882; it was adopted by the Parisian police and from there spread throughout much of the world. However, in the early twentieth century, anthropometry was replaced by fingerprinting, a more efficient and accurate method of identifying previously arrested criminals.
