Forensic Identification - Human Identification

Human Identification

People can be identified by their fingerprints. This assertion is supported by the philosophy of friction ridge identification, which states that friction ridge identification is established through the agreement of friction ridge formations, in sequence, having sufficient uniqueness to individualize.

Friction ridge identification is also governed by four premises or statements of fact:

1. Friction ridges develop on the fetus in their definitive form prior to birth.
2. Friction ridges are persistent throughout life except for permanent scarring, disease or decomposition after death.
3. Friction ridge paths and the details in small areas of friction ridges are unique and never repeated.
4. Overall, friction ridge patterns vary within limits which allow for classification.

People can also be identified from traces of their DNA from blood, skin, hair, saliva and semen by DNA fingerprinting, from their teeth or bite by forensic odontology, from a photograph or a video recording by facial recognition systems, from the video recording of their walk by gait analysis, from an audio recording by voice analysis, from their handwriting by handwriting analysis, from the content of their writings by their writing style (e.g. typical phrases, factual bias, and/or misspellings of words), or from other traces using other biometric techniques.

Body identification is a subfield of forensics concerned with identify someone from their remains.