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IDENTIFICATION (Lat. idem, the same)

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 288 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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IDENTIFICATION (See also:Lat. idem, the same) , the See also:process of proving any one's identity, i.e. that he is the See also:man he purports to be, or—if he is pretending to be some one else—the man he really is; or in See also:case of dispute, that he is the man he is alleged to be. As more strenuous efforts have been made for the pursuit of criminals, and more and more severe penalties are inflicted on old offenders, means of identification have become essential, and various processes have been tried to secure that desirable end. For a See also:long See also:time they continued to be most imperfect ; nothing better was devised than rough and ready methods of recognition depending upon the memories of See also:officers of the See also:law or the See also:personal impressions of witnesses concerned in the case, supplemented in more See also:recent years by photographs, not always a safe and unerring See also:guide. The machinery employed was cumbrous, wasteful of time and costly. Detective policemen were marched in a See also:body to inspect arrested prisoners in the exercising yards of the See also:prison. Accused persons were placed in the midst of a number of others of approximately like figure and See also:appearance, and the prosecutor and witnesses were called in one by one to pick out the offender. Inquiries, with a detailed description of distinctive marks, and photographs were circulated far and wide to See also:local See also:police forces. Officers, police and prison wardens were despatched in See also:person to give See also:evidence of identity at distant courts. Mis-identification was by no means rare. Many remarkable cases may be quoted. One of the most notable was that of the Frenchman Lesurques, in the days of the See also:Directory, who was positively identified as having robbedthe See also:Lyons See also:mail and suffered See also:death, protesting his innocence of the See also:crime, which was afterwards brought See also:home to another man, Duboscq, and this terrible judicial See also:error proved to be the result of the extraordinary likeness between the two men. Another curious case is to be found in See also:American records, when a man was indicted for See also:bigamy as See also:James Hoag, who averred that he was really See also:Thomas See also:Parker.

There was a marvellous conflict of testimony, even wives and families and personal See also:

friends being misled, and there was a narrow See also:escape of mis-identification. The leading See also:modern case in See also:England is that of Adolf See also:Beck (1905). Beck (who eventually died at the end of 1909) was arrested on the complaint of a number of See also:women who positively swore to his identity as See also:Smith, a man who had defrauded them. An ex-policeman who had originally arrested Smith also swore that Beck was the same man. There was a See also:grave See also:miscarriage of See also:justice. Beck was sentenced to penal See also:servitude, and although a closer examination of the personal marks showed that Beck could not possibly be Smith, it was only after a scandalous delay, due to the obstinacy of responsible officials, that See also:relief was afforded. It has to be admitted that evidence as to identity based on personal impressions is perhaps of all classes of evidence the least to be relied upon. Such elements of uncertainty cannot easily be eliminated from any See also:system of See also:jurisprudence, but some improvements in the methods of identification have been introduced in recent years. The first was in the See also:adoption of See also:anthropometry (q.v.), which was invented by the See also:French savant, A. See also:Bertillon. The reasons that led to its See also:general supersession may be summed up in its costliness, the demand for See also:superior skill in subordinate agents and the liability to errors not easy to trace and correct. A still more potent See also:reason remained, the See also:comparative failure of results.

It was found in the first four years of its use in England and See also:

Wales that an almost inappreciable number of identifications were effected by the anthropometric system; namely, 152 in 1898, 243 in 1899, 46z in 'goo, and 503 in 1901, the See also:year in which it was supplemented by the use of " See also:finger prints (q.v.). The figures soon increased by leaps and See also:bounds. In 1902 the See also:total number of searches among the records were 6826 and. the identifications 1722 for See also:London and the provinces; in 1903 the searches were 11,919, the identifications 3642; for the first See also:half of 1904 the searches were 6697 and the identifications 2335. In See also:India and some of the colonies the results were still more remarkable; the recognitions in 1903 were 9512, and 17,289 in 1904. Were returns available from other countries very similar figures would no doubt be shown. Among these countries are See also:Ireland, See also:Australasia, See also:Ceylon, See also:South See also:Africa, and many See also:great cities of the See also:United States; and the system is extending to See also:Germany, See also:Austria-See also:Hungary and other parts of See also:Europe. The See also:record of finger prints in England and Wales is kept by the See also:Metropolitan police at New See also:Scotland Yard. They were at first limited to persons convicted at courts at See also:quarter sessions and assizes and to all persons sentenced at See also:minor courts to more than a See also:month without See also:option of See also:fine for serious offences. The finger prints when taken by prison warders are forwarded to Londorr for See also:registration and reference on demand. The total number of finger-See also:print slips was 70,000 in 1904, and weekly additions were being made at the See also:rate of 350 slips. The advantages of the record system need not be emphasized. By its means identification is prompt, inevitable and absolutely accurate.

By forwarding the finger prints of all remanded prisoners to New Scotland Yard, their antecedents are established beyond all hesitation. In past times identification of criminals who had passed through the hands of the law was compassed by See also:

branding, imprinting by a hot See also:iron, or See also:tattooing with an indelible sign, such as a See also:crown, fleur de lys or See also:initials upon the See also:shoulder or other See also:part of the body. This practice, long since abandoned, was in a measure continued in the See also:British See also:army, when offenders against military law were ordered by See also:sentence of See also:court-See also:martial to be marked with " D " for deserter and " B.C." See also:bad See also:character; this ensured their recognition and prevented re-enlistment; but all such penalties have now disappeared. (A.

End of Article: IDENTIFICATION (Lat. idem, the same)

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