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Chemical testing utilized
James Marsh, an English chemist, uses chemical processes to determine arsenic as the cause of death in a murder trial. -
First uses of photos in identification
San Francisco uses photography for criminal identification, the first city in the US to do so. -
Fingerprints found to be unique
Henry Faulds and William James Herschel publish a paper describing the uniqueness of fingerprints. Francis Galton, a scientist, adapted their findings for the court. Galton's system identified the following patterns: plain arch, tented arch, simple loop, central pocket loop, double loop, lateral pocket loop, plain whorl, and accidental. -
Sherlock Holmes and the coroner
Coroner's act established that coroners' were to determine the causes of sudden, violent, and unnatural deaths. Arthur Conan Doyle also publishes the first Sherlock Holmes story. -
Fingerprint ID used in crime
Juan Vucetich, an Argentinean police officer, is the first to use fingerprints as evidence in a murder investigation. He created a system of fingerprint identification, which he termed dactyloscopy. -
Investigations into blood markers
Human blood grouping, ABO, discovered by Karl Landsteiner and adapted for use on bloodstains by Dieter Max Richter. -
First fingerprint prisoner ID used
NY state prison system implemented fingerprint identification. -
Lie detection
Prototype polygraph, which was invented by John Larson in 1921, developed for use in police stations. -
First national crime system
FBI established the National Crime Information Center, a computerized national filing system on wanted people, stolen vehicles, weapons, etc. -
DNA technique for unique ID
DNA fingerprinting techniques developed by Sir Alec Jeffreys. -
DNA catches the criminal
Tommy Lee Andrews convicted of a series of sexual assaults, using DNA profiling.