Answer to Question #171791 in Law for abi

Question

 why the Bertillon system is not an accurate tool to use as evidence in forensics.

Answer 1

The Bertillon System invented by Alphonse Bertillon is a method of identifying persons using body measurements including standing height, sitting height, distance between fingertips, size of the head and notation of data such as, markings, color and thumb line. This system was used in the nineteenth century to identify criminals but was displaced by more reliable methods because the major flaw of this method was the assumption that measurements were different from each individual and the chances of two people being the same height were four to one. Therefore, the more he added the measurements of different body parts the less the odds that two people’s measurements would match.