BERTILLON (115r'ti2'y0x') SYSTEM. The name applied to a method of identifying crimi nals. Until very recently only general descrip tions and photographs were employed, the re sult being that by slight disguises the appear ance was so changed that criminals frequently es caped detection.
In March, 1879, Dr. Alphonse Bertillon. of Paris, invented and in 1855 published a plan for securing absolute identification. Three sorts of 'signalements' (descriptions) are employed: A. Anthropometrical, based upon: (1) The almost absolute immutability of the human frame after the twentieth year of age; (2) the extreme di versity of dimensions which the human skeleton presents when compared in different subjects; (3) the facility and precision with which certain dimensions of the skeleton may be measured. B. Deseriptire; a general description. C. Peculiar marks, scars, deformities, etc. Of these marks an exact measurement is taken and their loca tion accurately noted. The color of the eyes is important, as this cannot be changed. Two pho tographs, one of the full face, the other of the profile, are taken by a camera screwed to the door, and from a chair likewise fastened so that the relative proportion of height and size are ex actly preserved in all pictures. The main reli ance, however. is placed on the antliropometrical signalments, as these are never identR!al for two persons. The measurements taken are (the metric system is always used) : (person standing). Reach (outstretched arms—finger-tips Body, to finger-tips). !Trunk (height sitting).
{ Head Length and width. Length and width of right ear.
Limbs f Length of left foot, left middle finger, t left little finger, left forearm.
The measurements. with the other descriptions and the photographs, are put on cards of uni form size. These cards ate classified, first ac cording to sex. The cards are then distributed in three tiers of drawers, each tier made up of three drawers, according to the length of the head. The upper tier contains head lengths of 157 millimeters and less; the middle, those between 187 millimeters and 194 millimeters; the third, all above 194 millimeters. Ninety thousand cards would thus be roughly divided into tiers of 30,000 each. Each of these groups
is subdivided according as the width of the head is narrow, medium, or broad, each division hav ing about 10,000 cards. A further division, ac cording as the length of the left middle finger is small, medium, or large, will reduce them to groups of 3300 cards. Further analysis soon lowers the number of cards to something like 12 in each group. Thus to locale any card re quires but a moment's effort.
The Bertillon system was introdueed into the United States in 1887 by tlajor R. NV. Mc Claughry. It met with a favorable reception and is rapidly being adopted in the larger penal in stitutions.
Such a system of absolute identification is a "necessary adjunct to the scientific administra tion of criminal law." It has a deterrent effect upon criminals, \ vho know that if they are caught no disguise can conceal their identity. It enables the officers to distinguish the new from the old offender. It makes impossible the mistaking of an innocent person for some criminal to whom he hears a superficial resemblance. With the in creased sentences for repeated offenses, this possi bility of identification becomes of vast impor tance. That local institutions, police courts, etc., should keep such records is, however, not enough. Efforts are now being made to have the National Government establish a central bureau for the collection of all the signalments of the criminals of the country. If the various nations adopted such a plan, the criminal would not escape detection by changing his abode. The discovery of the identity of the assassin of King Humbert through the Bertillon system is a strik ing proof of its utility. Penologists claim that the influx of foreign criminals in the United States in recent years is partly due to the adop tion of the Bertillon system in European coun tries. It is stated that the larger proportion of the graver crimes are committed by persons not resident in the locality. Consult: A. Bertillon, Identification anthropometrique (Paris, 1893) ; The Bertillon System of Identification, R. W. MeClaughry, Editor (Chicago, 1896) ; Boies, The Science of Penology (New York, 1901).