The Use of Biometrics in Forensic Science

Nowadays, DNA is a crucial component of a crime scene investigation, used to both to identify perpetrators from crime scenes and to determine a suspect’s guilt or innocence (Butler, 2005). The method of constructing a distinctive “fingerprint” from an individual’s DNA was first described by Alec Jeffreys in 1985. He discovered regions of repetitions of nucleotides inherent in DNA strands that differed from person to person (now known as variable number of tandem repeats, or VNTRs), and developed a technique to adjust the length variation into a definitive identity marker (Butler, 2005). Since then, DNA fingerprinting has been refined to be an indispensible source of evidence, expanded into multiple methods befitting different types of DNA

Biometrics technology aims at utilizing major and distinctive characteristics such as behavioral or biological, for the sake of positively indentifying people. With the help of a combination of hardware and specific identifying sets of rules, a basic human attribute, automated biometric recognition mimics to distinguish and categorize other people as individual and unique. But the challenges surrounding biometrics are great as well.

The thing with biometrics is that it works great only if the verifier can verify two things: Firstly, that the biometric to be used has come from the intended person at the time of verification, and Secondly, which the biometric should match with the master biometric entry in the file database. If the system can't do that, it can't work. Biometrics are good in uniquely identifying the people, butat the same time they are not secrets and cannot be trusted [1].

Biometrics is a method of identifying an individual based on characteristics that they possess, typically physiological features such as a fingerprint, hand, iris, retina, face, voice, and even DNA. Some methods of biometrics security even use multiple physiological features or multimodal biometrics to provide superior security than a single form of biometrics can provide. Why are biometrics important in the field of information security? Biometrics provide a remarkable amount of security for information because biometrics are unique to each person, and thus cannot be lost, copied, or shared with another individual. This security allows for biometrics to provide a means to reliability authenticate personnel. The importance of biometrics can be further divided into the history of biometrics and why it was devised, past implementations of biometrics, current implementations of biometrics, and future implementations of biometrics.

samples of an individual’s fingerprint’s can be lifted from a crime scene. The breakthrough of

Advances in DNA technology has expanded greatly in the world of forensic science. In the past a vast number of crime scene evidence was not considered for analysis is now being tested. Trace DNA is more effective in this century when convicting a criminal than it was 20-30 years ago. Due to the consist improvement of DNA technology forensic scientist are able to put away criminals the correct way.

That is a good question, one worth answering. Forensics is a scientific tool that has come to its own starting about the 80’s. Fingerprinting was one of the first techniques used to help in identifying the criminals that committed the heinous acts. Fingerprinting uses a brush and powder to enhance the ridge details on the fingertips adhering to the oils left behind. Another awesome way they have been able to pull prints off soft surfaces like bed sheets is by using superglue and heat. Fascinating isn’t it? Since then Forensics has become even more evolved. Fingerprints now go into a database known as AFIS or Automated Fingerprint Identification System, which has the prints of everyone

In biometric recognition there different kind of recognition that relates to biometric but some of the current uses in iris recognition is the national border controls which is the iris being an passport. Also their more current uses for the iris recognition is the forensic usage which is when tracing and finding a missing person or any individual that was missing personal files. There also other uses that their using and one of them is for iris recognition is using the internet security to control the access of the privileged information. Some of the current uses for face recognition is for crime fighting which is when the law enforcement agents are using to recognize many people based on their face. Also another uses of face recognition

We live in a world today, in which technology moves at a very rapid pace. Many of these technological advances can be used to make our everyday lives easier and safer. One of these new technologies is Biometrics. Biometrics is the process of measuring a person’s physical properties. This would include measuring things like fingerprints, retinas, odor, vein structure on the back of the hand and many other things. Biometrics is a very important topic because it would create better security precautions for certain places that need to be secure. Biometrics will make our society safer by only allowing authorized people out of secure facilities and by keeping the unauthorized people out. Throughout the rest of this

“Fingerprint recognition is one of the divorce inference using the impressions made by the minute ridge formations or patterns found on the fingertips. No two people have exactly the same arrangement of the ridge patterns, and the remaining patterns of any one individual unchanged. Fingerprints infallible provide a means of personal identification. Other personal characteristics may change, but not fingerprints”. (1)

Forensic science involves the use of science to solve criminal and civil crimes but mostly lies on the side of criminal investigations. It makes it possible to identify the criminals based on the DNA traces they leave behind. It involves analyses of blood, DNA and other evidences and later on uses the findings as evidence in the court of law. It helps in solving the various crimes in the world and this has been the greatest contributor to the growth of the sector. Cases that were previously considered impossible due to lack of evidenced tracing to the victim can now be solved using forensic science evidences. The essay aims at analyzing the different aspects of forensic science that are used in the process of solving criminal activities. It will also look at the different cases that forensic science was used to solve crimes in a court of law.

Every time somebody touches something, they leave behind a unique signature that forever links them to that object. This link is their fingerprints, which are unique to every person, for no two people have the same set, not even family members or identical twins. Palms and toes also leave prints behind, but these are far less commonly found during crime scene investigations. Therefore, fingerprints provide an identification process that is applicable to background checks, biometric security, mass disaster identification, and most importantly, crime scene investigations. Fingerprints are so differentiated because they are made up of distinct patterns of ridges and furrows on the fingers. The ridges are the “raised” portions of the prints, and the furrows are the “recessed” portions. This perceived uniqueness has led some people to falsely accept fingerprint analysis as absolute scientific fact. Although overall fingerprints are reliable, there are definitely situations where their accuracy can come into question.

You have seen biometric technology in the films Mission: Impossible and Gattaca. The technology has also graced the covers of many weekly news magazines. But many people, even though the technology has been widely talked about for the last half decade, are still surprisingly unaware of what biometrics are and why the technology is so important for computer security and personal identification.

Biometric technologies are getting better and finely tuned. The rate of false readings and errors has sharply fallen. However it still requires careful consideration and planning to implement a biometric identification system. They are most costly and complicated to implement as compared with other authentication systems. A proper evaluation of the system is important before purchasing any biometric system. A thorough risk analysis is necessary. In many cases biometrics may be overkill. Biometrics must be used if there is high level of risk involved. Customer acceptance is also important when logging on to company websites. Home users might not be ready to install biometrics on home computers for online banking.

DNA fingerprinting is a scientific technology involving the extraction, replication and arrangement of strands of an organism’s DNA. This results in the formation of a genetically distinctive fingerprint that is unique to the organism which the DNA sample was originally extracted from. Because of the specificity of a DNA fingerprint, the application of this technology can have a substantial influence on many aspects of society. Accessibility to a DNA database allows for higher efficiency in forensic investigations, personal identification, maternal and paternal testing. The availability of a national database to police officers and forensic scientists would equate to increased productivity in investigations and prosecution of suspects in a