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700 BCE
Prehistoric
Evidence suggests that the investigation of crimes occurred as far back as prehistoric times when early man took fingerprints by pressing hands and fingers into clay or rock. -
Fingerprinting
During the late 1800s and early 1900s, forensic science expanded to include technologies like body temperature to determine time of death and the systematic use of fingerprinting for identification. -
The First Criminal Fingerprints
In 1891, Juan Vucetich, an Argentine Police Official, began the first fingerprint files based on Galton pattern types. At first, Vucetich included the Bertillon System with the files. (see Bertillon below) In 1892, Juan Vucetich made the first criminal fingerprint identification. He was able to identify a woman by the name of Rojas, who had murdered her two sons, and cut her own throat in an attempt to place blame on another. -
DNA
DNA profiling was originally developed as a method of determining paternity. It first made its way into the courts in 1986, when police in England asked molecular biologist Alec Jeffreys, who had begun investigating the use of DNA for forensics, to use DNA to verify the confession of a 17 year-old boy in two rape-murders in the English Midlands. The tests proved the teenager was in fact not the perpetrator and the actual attacker was eventually caught, also using DNA testing. -
DNA Databases- Combined DNA Index System
CODIS, is now mandates 50 states maintain DNA databases. The types of profiles that are included vary from state to state. In 1990, Virginia became the first state to enact an all felons’ law that required DNA from anyone convicted of a felony. Most states at that time included only certain offenses, such as sexual assault. By 1999, six states had All Felons databases and today there are 38 states with this legislation.
