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First fingerprint
In 1891 this was the first fingerprint to be used in crime. (First case used was the Rojas Homicide in 1892, in which the print of a woman who murdered her two sons and cut her own throat in an attempt to place the blame on another person was found on a door post) -
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Fingerprints began to be used for indentification
The incident called the reliability of Bertillion's measurements into question, and it was decided that a more positive
means of identification was necessary. As the Bertillon System began to decline, the use of fingerprints in identifying
and classifying individuals began to rise. After 1903, many prison systems began to use fingerprints as the primary
means of identification. -
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The military adopts the fingerprints
U.S. Military adopts the use of fingerprints – soon thereafter, police agencies began to adopt the use of fingerprints. The military used them because the local and federal law enforcement officers typically submit fingerprints to the FBI's criminal file for every person they arrest on a serious charge, whether or not there is an eventual conviction -
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The first fingerprint card
The first official fingerprint card was developed. They used it to eliminate duplicate fingerprints and make it easier to store and share fingerprints among law enforcement agencies -
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Fingerprints accepted by the U.S.
Fingerprints are first accepted by U.S. courts as a reliable means of Identification Jennings appealed his conviction to the Illinois Supreme Court on the basis of a questionable new scientific technique. The Illinois Supreme Court cited the historical research and use of fingerprints as a means of reliable identification in upholding the conviction and thus establishing the use of fingerprints as a reliable means of identification.