The science of biometrics involves identification of people based on physical and behavioral characteristics. This includes facial recognition software, voice identification software and retina scanning. Biometrics is used commonly in forensic science with fingerprinting, handwriting analysis, hair analysis and blood identification.
Skin markings like scars, birthmarks and tattoos are considered soft biometrics, easily measurable physical characteristics that can change. Tattoos are becoming more common with estimates that approximately 36% of people between 18 and 29 have at least one tattoo. Most are specific to the individual, though many social groups adopt tattoos of similar design to designate membership. This is very common among gang members. Tattoos can give information on social characteristics such as time in prison, number of crimes committed and ethnic affiliations. Tattoos have been used for identifying bodies in mass disasters like 9/11 and homicides. This is often necessary when partial remains are found or other identifying biometrics like fingerprints are removed. Residual markings from tattoos remain in the skin even after burns or decomposition. Tattoos are also used to identify suspects in custody who may be using a false name. In the past, forensic investigators have kept large notebooks containing tattoo photos, which later gave way to searchable computer databases with tattoo characteristics. Both are unwieldy and require significant search time to find a match.
http://forensicscience.suite101.com/article.cfm/forensic-identification-of-tattoos
4 comments:
One part of this review that I thought was well presented was what biometrics is because prior to reading this article I did not know what it was. Another part that I thought was well presented was the numerous ways that being can be identified through biometrics. Things like tattoos can be very identifiable. A third part that was well presented was how tattoos are so good for identifying people since so much of the human population has tattoos.
One suggestion that I would have for this review would be to show other ways that people can be identified besides using their tattoos. For example what other specific characteristics can help. A second suggestion is to mention if there are any automated databases that can do this automatically with digital images.
The aspect that impressed me the most was that so much of the human population has tattoos. Approximately 36% of people between 18 and 29 have at least one tattoo. And these tattoos are so good for identification because usually the tattoo is very specific to the individual.
On think i enjoyed about this article was that it explains what biometrics is and how it can be used. Also, how things in a crime scene can be determined and traced using biometrics. Lastly, it was interesting to see how tattoos can link people to crimes even if they have them erased because they provide a great individual characteristic.
One thing i would suggest to make better would be to elaborate on how biometrics matches people using measurements. Also, if it can be used for other things then determining and matching tattoos.
Lastly, one thing that i learned, was that tattoos can match people to crime scenes, and that a lot of people in the world today have tattoos and they can be used at individual characteristics.
Three things I enjoyed from this review:
The article presented what biometrics are in a clear manner that made it easy to understand.
The author demonstrated several ways to identify a person through tattoos.
The author also stated the many ways that tattoo identification has helped police in the past in such instances as 9/11.
One suggestion I would make is to go into further detail about the technology surrounding tattoo identification, e.g. the computer database that contains these samples.
I would also like to know more about other forms of biometrics (retinal scanning, handwriting analysis, etc.)
From the article I learned that 36% of people between 18 and 29 today have a tattoo, so identifying tattoos is a vital part of forensic technology.
Luke Nichols
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