The science of anthropometry - the measurement of the physical parameters of a person, gave rise to a new doctrine - habitology. This is the identification of a person by external signs, which helps forensic specialists and police officers in the search and identification of criminals.
Fundamentals of Habitology
In a narrower sense, habitology is the study of special techniques for classifying the external parameters of a person, the features of carrying out a portrait forensic examination. The effectiveness of this teaching is justified by three qualities of appearance:
- Uniqueness, i.e. each person is unique and individual. Even if you analyze facial features separately, there are more than 100 characteristics that describe their features.
- Invariance, or rather, relative stability, because the constitution of a person and his appearance is based on bone and cartilage tissue, which has not changed its structure since the age of 25. Features such as the shape of the cheekbones, the severity of the superciliary arches, the height of the forehead, etc. remain unchanged in adulthood. Despite the aging and deformation of the skin and soft tissues, an accurate identification of the face is carried out using the skeleton and skull.
- The ability to display on media and in the memory of witnesses.
The totality of information about a person's appearance is used to solve the following problems:
- Search for unknown criminals who fled the scene.
- Search for known criminals who have escaped from prison or are hiding from law enforcement.
- Search for missing people and identification of the dead.
The fight against lawbreakers has been going on since the rise of civilizations, and various methods of identification appeared long before the advent of modern habitology techniques.
Ancient ways to identify criminals
According to the postulates of Greco-Roman law, criminals and runaway slaves should be marked with a red-hot brand, which was applied to exposed parts of the body, except for the face. In the Middle Ages, branding was popular in Europe and was part of the standard practice of inquisitors. In France, until 1832, the letters “TF” - “travaux forcés”, “forced labor” were burned on the right shoulder of convicts.
In Russia, in order to distinguish criminals from law-abiding citizens, Mikhail Fedorovich first used the stigma. In a decree of 1637, he ordered that the word "thief" be burned into people convicted of counterfeiting coins. Later, the practice of cutting off auricles, phalanges of fingers, cutting off noses was used to more fully determine the degrees of crime. For the first theft they cut off the right ear, for the second - the left, and for the third time the death pen alty was imposed. Since the time of Peter I, red-hot iron was replaced with special needles that were pierced on the skinletters, and then rubbed with gunpowder.
In 1845, exiled convicts were branded with the letters “SB” and “SK” (“exiled fugitive”, “exile convict”) on their hands, and for each subsequent escape a new mark “SB” was added. The stamp was already rubbed with indigo paint or ink.
In 1863, Tsar Alexander II repealed the law on branding, considering it barbaric: some of the illegally convicted were forced to bear the mark of shame until the end of their lives.
In the 19th century, after the abolition of uncivilized methods of detecting criminals in Europe, the science of anthropometry, the progenitor of habitology, arose.
Alphonse Bertillon Identification System
Alfon Bertillon was a French criminologist who, in 1879, introduced his own system of anthropometric measurements of the human face and body, which made it possible to quickly and accurately identify the criminal. He found that the sizes and shapes of body parts are individual, and compiling a file with all the physical data and characteristics will help in the search for offenders. The card file was supplemented by drawings and photographs of criminals. He also owns the idea of photographing the arrested in profile and full face.
According to the French police, in 1884 alone, thanks to the “bertillonage” system, 242 people were caught. Basically, file cabinets were used to search for repeat offenders and criminals who had escaped from places of detention. The system began to quickly gain popularitythroughout Europe, Russia and the West. In the United States, it began to be used in 1887. This method was successfully used by criminologists around the world until 1903.
Casus "brothers" West
In 1903, a black criminal named Will West was brought to the Correctional Institution in Leavenworth, Kansas. After taking measurements using the Bertillon system, prison officials found that his physical characteristics and appearance strongly match those of another black prisoner, William West, who is serving a sentence in the same prison for a murder committed in 1901. Moreover, the police could not prove any relationship between these people.
They were applied another, new for that time, technique - fingerprinting, or analysis of the pattern on the fingertips. This story became known throughout the country and even got into the European media. Many forensic experts have come to the conclusion that the Bertillon system is not always effective in accurately establishing an identity. The methodology needed to be supplemented and improved. Since then, habitology has not been the only technique used for identification.
Habitology in Russia
The advanced Bertillon system began to be actively used by the detective and security police in pre-revolutionary times. In particular, the verbal description of criminals and revolutionaries became widespread. Thousands are preserved in the archives of the policecards with descriptions of people, members of the Bolshevik underground. During the Soviet period, criminalists continued to improve methods of identifying by external features and signs.
What does the name of the method mean? The term "habitology" itself comes from the Latin "habitus" - the appearance of a person, and was introduced by the Soviet professor Terziev N. V. in the work "Forensic identification of a person by signs of appearance."
In 1955, the anthropologist Gerasimov, based on the work of Bertillon, developed a new technique for restoring facial features from the skull. In the same period, composite portraits or identikit portraits were first used in the USSR. In 1984, the Collegium of the Ministry of Internal Affairs introduced all-Union norms and rules for the use of forensic scientists to identify criminals.
In the late 80s, the KGB and the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs began to conduct research to create automatic recognition of offenders. However, the lack of a technical base and material resources slowed down this process. In the late 90s, with the spread of modern computers, video cameras, surveillance systems, it became possible to create a common database and an automatic identification program.
Classification of external features of a person
According to forensic habitology, a person's appearance is determined by their own and accompanying elements. Own elements mean anatomical features and properties inherent in the individual. Associated features include elements that are notrelated to physique, replaceable and complementary appearance.
Own appearance elements
Such signs of appearance include general physical, anatomical and functional elements.
- General physical elements include sex, height, age, body structure. These external features are somehow reflected in the anatomical and functional attributes of appearance, clothing, so they are also called complex.
- Anatomical elements include features of the figure, type and shape of the face, dimensions of body parts, features of the hairline, traces of injuries or tattoos, etc.
- Functional elements are distinctive features that appear in the process of activity. These include voice timbre, facial expressions, gestures, gait, special habits, articulation.
Accompanying elements of appearance
Additional features of appearance include clothes, mascots, small wearable items and accessories. They are divided by material type, specificity, frequency of use and manufacturing method.
Rules for describing appearance in habitology
The accepted norms for drawing up a verbal portrait include a strict sequence. The description begins with general physical signs, then anatomical, functional and related ones follow. Pronounced signs stand out separately. Moreover, the anatomical features are considered in the position in front and on the side. The verbal portrait should be complete, specific and not contain unnecessary details.
Displaying the appearance of a person
It is possible to fix the appearance of a person usingsubjective and objective mappings. Subjective refers to descriptions of witnesses and victims, as well as sketches based on their testimonies. The perception of the appearance of one person by another strongly depends on the emotional state, lighting, age, visual memory, etc. Therefore, the information received may not always be complete, reliable and useful for searching people.
The objective ways of fixing the appearance include photography and video filming, the latter also displaying functional signs of appearance. In forensic habitology, masks and casts are used, as well as facial reconstruction based on the skulls of the dead.
History of identikit creation
Visualization of criminals has come a long way, from simple drawings to modern identikit programs. To create images and the subsequent search for criminals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, portraits were used from the words of victims and witnesses. For this, special artists worked in police stations in Europe, the USA and Russia.
However, if the crime occurred in a crowded place in front of dozens of eyewitnesses, the testimony and description of the suspect's appearance could vary greatly, depending on the perception of the witnesses. This created a big problem, because often the portraits of the artists came out inaccurate and did not contribute to the investigation.
During World War II, LAPD Detective Hugh C. McDonald developed Identikit, the first identikit system. He analyzed over 500000 photos of criminals, then reduced them to 500 basic types. I redrawn parts of the face separately on transparencies and got a set of 37 noses, 52 chins, 102 pairs of eyes, 40 lips, 130 hair lines and an assortment of eyebrows, beards, mustaches, glasses, wrinkles and hats. Now identification was reduced to combining different parts and elements of the face.
In 1961, a Scotland Yard detective first used the Identikit to catch the killer of Edwin Bush. The policeman memorized an identikit drawn up at the station by one of the witnesses, remembered the appearance of the suspect and detained a similar man. The confrontation proved the guilt of E. Bush.
In 1970, the Identikit system was replaced by Photo-FIT. Unlike the first version, which used line drawings, Photo-FIT consisted of real photographs of various parts of the face. With the development of computer technology, many identikit programs have appeared.
Modern trends in the development of habitology
One of the promising modern developments is the combination of standard habitology methods with biometrics. Technologies make it possible to identify a person by the pattern of the retina, the shape of hands, the pattern of blood vessels, voice, handwriting, etc. Criminalists are increasingly coming to the conclusion that it is necessary to study a person in a comprehensive manner - not only in appearance, but also in biological and mental characteristics. Examinations and DNA tests are carried out, psychological portraits of criminals are compiled. Experts agree that habitology is not only the science of external signs. It gives a lot of different information for analysis.
Some experts insist on a careful study of the functional features of a person when identifying a person, because often witnesses cannot accurately remember the details of the figure, signs and type of face shape, but they clearly remember the voice, facial expressions, gestures. In the 19th century, the psychiatrist C. Lombroso tried to find a pattern between external features and a person's ability to commit a crime. During his lifetime, his scientific works were popular, but in the 20th century they began to be compared with fascist ideas about the "superman". However, the study of habitology on the border with psychology is an urgent task for scientists.
Thus, habitology is a useful tool for solving the problems of searching, identifying and catching criminals.
