Mittwoch, 1. Mai 2013

Janet Napolitano about the importance of the Alphonse-Bertillon System


My name is Janet Napolitano, currently member of the Democratic Party in the USA and proud to be the first woman serving the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, a department which was founded after the terror attacks of 9/11. Due to my high interest in criminology I would like to give you an understanding of the importance of Bertillon’s system of criminal identification for criminology in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries.                                                                                                          Alphonse Bertillon, French law enforcement officer and criminologist, discovered that each individual had a unique combination of measurements of various body parts and therefore he was able to differentiate individuals by comparing them. The latter were measurements of the head and body, shape formations of eyes, mouth, etc., as well as individual markings, scars and personality characteristics. This turned out to be a breakthrough since by this means, a record of unique identifiers could be established in order to track suspects, prisoners and repeat delinquents. Before its establishment, the only way to identify criminals was through eyewitness accounts or unorganized files of photographs. However, some problems occurred, i.e. measuring tools had need for constant adjustment, which in turn was expensive, and measurements could also change because of the aging delinquent. Apart from this system, the criminologist developed an effective method so as to document as well as scrutinize the body of the victim and its cause of death. Thus, police photographers were able to record all the details in close proximity of a victim’s body with a specific camera. This method was finally adopted in the early 20th century.                                                                                                     With regard to this substantial progress in the history of criminology, I want you to imagine what life would be like if this system had not been invented. Certainly many criminals might still be out of prison instead being behind bars, but what else?

1 Kommentar:

  1. When reading the text, I noticed a couple of smaller mistakes. For example, I think the phrase is to serve AS Secretary. Also, I feel like you use the word criminology too often.

    The beginning of the second paragraph sounds like all humans REALLY have a fixed set of measurements, but that's not true. Also, be careful with "the latter", you are refering to the wrong thing.

    Genereally, I liked your text. It was insightful and well structured and you really nailed the narrative text type. Occasionally, I think you could tone down on the formal register a little, but other than that it's good :)

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