Suspect identities : a history of fingerprinting and criminal identification / Simon A. Cole.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cole, Simon A., 1967-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fingerprints--Identification.

Fingerprints.

Fingerprints--Classification.

Criminals--Identification.

Criminals.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (369 p. ) ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

As we rush headlong into the era of genetic identification, and as fingerprint errors are being exposed, this history uncovers the fascinating interplay of our elusive individuality, police and state power, and the quest for scientific certainty.

"No two fingerprints are alike," or so it goes. For nearly a hundred years fingerprints have represented definitive proof of individual identity in our society. We trust them to tell us who committed a crime, whether a criminal record exists, and how to resolve questions of disputed identity. But in this text, Simon Cole reveals that the history of criminal identification is far murkier than we have been led to believe. Cole traces the modern system of fingerprint identification to the 19th-century bureaucratic state, and its desire to track and control increasingly mobile, diverse populations whose race or ethnicity made them suspect in the eyes of authorities. In an intriguing history that traverses the globe, taking us to India, Argentina, France, England, and the United States, Cole excavates the forgotten history of criminal identification - from photography to exotic anthropometric systems based on measuring body parts, from finger-printing to DNA typing. He reveals how fingerprinting ultimately won the trust of the public and the law only after a long battle against rival identification systems.;As we rush headlong into the era of genetic identification, and as fingerprint errors are being exposed, this history uncovers the fascinating interplay of our elusive individuality, police and state power, and the quest for scientific certainty.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE Jekylls and Hydes

CHAPTER 1 Impostors and Incorrigible Rogues

CHAPTER 2 Measuring the Criminal Body

CHAPTER 3 Native Prints

CHAPTER 4 Degenerate Fingerprints

CHAPTER 5 Fingerprinting Foreigners

CHAPTER 6 From Anthropometry to Dactyloscopy

CHAPTER 7 Bloody Fingerprints and Brazen Experts

CHAPTER 8 Dazzling Demonstrations and Easy Assumptions

CHAPTER 9 Identification at a Distance

CHAPTER 10 Digital Digits

CHAPTER 11 Fraud, Fabrication, and False Positives

CHAPTER 12 The Genetic Age

EPILOGUE Bodily Identities

NOTES

Credits

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Index

Notes:

Originally published: 2001.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674029682

0674029682

OCLC:

923111957