Aspects Of Bertillonage

1. Law enforcement organizations found it useful to use Bertillonage (Anthropometry) on criminals when they were arrested, because at the time this system was invented, there were no physical forms of identification and as such a repeat offender could simple state another name in an effort to reduce penalty. The belief at the time was that it was virtually impossible for two separate individuals to have the exact measurements on which Bertillonage was based, and by virtue of this it was a credible method of identification.

2. The aspects of Bertillonage which made it useful were the eleven measurements of various parts of the human anatomy which were taken and documented for that particular individual. It was thought to be fool proof as the notion was that it was impossible for all eleven measurements of two separate individuals to be identical. It was timely in that at the time there were no other means by which to identify individuals other than be name.

3.
Fingerprinting is a better method of human identification than Bertillonage because ones fingerprint pattern doesn’t change even as that individual grows up. The fingerprint obviously becomes larger but the detail patterns are the same. However, as an individual develops the lengths of their various body parts change and this can be problematic if used for identification as the measurements for that individual ten years ago may be radically different ten years