Suspect Identities: A History of Fingerprinting and Criminal Identification

by Simon A. Cole

"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 Suspect Identities , 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 nineteenth-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 fingerprinting 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. Suspect Identities offers a necessary corrective to blind faith in the infallibility of technology, and a compelling look at its role in defining each of us.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

400 pages, Hardcover

First published May 16, 2001

Reviews

[John Carter McKnight · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't think of another book I've been assigned for school that I literally haven't been able to put down, reading this straight through a long evening. A history of criminal fingerprinting (only marginally touching on civilian identity-verification issues), focusing on the construction of systems of identity verification arising with urbanization, immigration and imperialism in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Cole distinguishes forensic identification from fingerprinting's genesis as an archival system for tracking repeat offenders, and efforts to create a diagnostic system of identifying criminal "types" in advance of criminal acts.

Briefly examining the rise of DNA typing as recapitulating the history of fingerprint adoption, Cole concludes with the provocative observation that genetic engineering may bring an end to the 19th Century association of identity with the physical body, a process well on its way with the digital notion of "identity theft."

Heavy redundancies in the middle of the book detract briefly from an otherwise irresistibly gripping narrative.

[Michael Connolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed history of fingerprinting. Very readable. Also includes a chapter on a predecessor of fingerprinting, where a collection of body measurements were made. Fingerprs are unique if all ten fingers are compared. But partial latent fingerprints from crime scenes are not unique, and should not be used to convict suspects without other supporting evidence.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This got philosophical real quick

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging book that is well researched and well presented. Cole makes several important arguments that could perhaps come through more clearly, but the ends of his chapters drive those points home. The basic argument that he raises about the competition between anthropometry and fingerprinting is that anthropometry was thought to be useful on people of European ancestry, where the operators could more easily perceive subtle differences in their subjects; fingerprinting, by contrast, was used for "others" who "all look alike," including colonial subjects (especially in India, where the British government developed the technique), and, in the United States, Chinese and African Americans. Cole also makes an excellent point that one of the first other groups in the US to be fingerprinted were prostitutes, placing women in that "other" category as well. I would have liked to know more about how the various US governments dealt with identifying Native Americans.

I'd also really like to know what the author thinks about the effects of CSI on people's conceptions of forensic science. His book, like several others I have read, went to press right before the initial CSI series started. My hypothesis is that it has helped to overcome some of the challenges that came out of the OJ Simpson trial. But you never do see the CSI people talking about the Daubert standard, which is telling. (We have to watch the Law & Order shows for that.)

Re-read November 2013 for HST 301: Graduate Historiography.

[Drew (graysonsyd) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads less like a 'textbook', and more like an engaging non-fiction novel or an extensively well-presented and informative essay. Fascinating stuff, really.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting history of fingerprinting.