Portrait Parle: Bertillon system of Identification

Portrait Parle for Identification

1. PORTRAIT PARLE

2. CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION HISTORY OF PORTRAIT PARLE ADVANCEMENT OF BERTILLONAGE BERTILLON CARD TRAITS DESCRIBED IN BERTILLON CARDS DESCRIPTION OF TRAITS CASE STUDY DECLINE OF BERTILLONAGE REFERENCES

3. INTRODUCTION PORTRAIT PARLE: These two French words mean “ speaking likeness ”. Portrait Parle can be defined as a rigorous system for verbal description of physical characteristics of the subject. It is based on the Bertillon method of criminal identification by measurements of the human body and is still in practice today to some extent.       A distinctive description of every feature of the face and head are especially valuable for investigation, especially when a set of the suspect's fingerprints is not available in his file.  

4. In order to recognize individuals who were repeatedly arrested, Bertillon developed means by which portraits could be sorted by common morphological characteristics—the specific shapes of the different parts of the face—and thus an individual’s prior photo could be found without having to resort to browsing through large collections of portraits. This classification is known as the “portrait parlé” or spoken portrait.

5. HISTORY OF PORTRAIT PARLE In 1882, Alphonse Bertillon, also called “Father of Scientific Detection” said that anthropology could be invoked to aid in the sight recognisation and identification of criminals. Employing these methods of scientific description, he worked out a system of identification, utilizing 11 skeletal measurements which are practicably unchanged after maturity and are not affected by increase or loss of weight. Alphonse Bertillon (1853-1914)

6. His classification provided a basis for modern recall system that would aid the artist in producing sketches as well as the development of composite kits, catalogs and computer systems. Originally, he meant for the catalogue to be an identification aid for recognition of local prisoners but later it was found to be useful for obtaining description of unknown suspects also.

7. Bertillon stated from the observations that human bone structure was more or less absolutely fixed by the age of 20, and that the skeleton varied tremendously in its dimensions between one person and another. Before DNA evidences-and before that, the ubiquitous adoption of finger printing- became the dominant mode in which criminals were identified by law enforcements, another form of biometric identification was widespread around the world. The portrait parle system also known as Bertillonage, had a major impact on criminology, specially in its native France.

8. It was not until 1882, however, that Bertillon was given the opportunity to prove the validity of his system in the eyes of the Prefect of Police. After 3 month trial period, he was able to identify a repeat offender by proving that the man, who had just been caught on the scene of theft, had indeed been arrested sometime before. Despite using a false identity, the criminal was betrayed by his own body measurements and quickly confessed .

9. ADVANCEMENT OF BERTILLONAGE Whereas the anthropometric system made it possible to distinguish between two distinct individuals, it did not bring irrefutable proof of an individual’s identity. While not fully managing to fix this major flaw, Bertillon designed an incremental physical description card also called the Bertillon card, comprising of four areas: anthropometry- a field he enriched with new topological descriptions of ear, nose and iris. An incremental- a detailed physical description method which formed the basis of portrait parle .

10. photographic description- which he continually enhanced by defining a general protocol for face. An inventory and precise mapping of all specific marks to be found on the body- scars, tattoos, moles and the like.

11. The Bertillon card included spaces for description of the prisoner’s eyes, ears, lips, beard, hair color, skin color, ethnicity, forehead,

12. nose chin general contour of head hair growth pattern eyebrows eyeballs and orbit mouth neck inclination of shoulders attitude Voice language habiliments

13. BERTILLON CARD The Bertillon card included two photographs, one face-on and one in profile.

14. 25 TRAITS DESCRIBED IN BERTILLON CARD: Gender Face shape Chin shape Skin color Hair type (curly, wavy, straight) Widow’s peak Color of eyebrows Eyebrow thickness Eyebrow placement Eye color Eye’s distance apart Eye size

15. Eye shape Eyelash length Mouth size Lip thickness Nose size Nose shape Nostril shape Earlobe attachment Ear pits Hairy ears Cheek freckles Forehead freckles Hair color  

16. DESCRIPTION OF FOLLOWING FEATURES CONSIDERED IN PORTRAIT PARLE: FACE: oblong, oval, round, rectangular, square, triangular, diamond

17. WIDOW’S PEAK:

18. SKIN COLOR : very fair, fair white skin, light brown, moderate brown, dark brown, deeply pigmented dark brown to black. HAIR TYPES : straight, wavy, curly, coils, undefined coils

19. EYES: round, almond, droopy, droopy hooded, Asian, round Asian etc.

20. EYE COLOR: gray, green, blue, honey, brown, black

21. COLOR OF EYEBROWS: black, dark red, dark brown, medium red, brown, light red, blonde, light blonde

22. DISTANCE BETWEEN EYES: wide set, down turned, almond eyes, close set eyes, hooded eyes, almond eyes.

23. AVERAGE DISTANCE BETWEEN EYES:

24. Types of eyebrows: thin, natural, thick

25. EYE SHAPES: protruding eyes, small eyes, sunken eyes

26. BEARD STYLES: hollywoodian, old dutch, ducktail, winnfield, pencil, anchor, handlebar, super mario, mutton chops to name a few.

27. CHIN TYPES:

28. TYPES OF NOSE:

29. NOSE LENGTH:

30. FOREHEAD AND CHEEK FRECKLES:

31. EARS: large, small, ear sticking in, ear sticking out

32. HAIRY EAR:

33. TYPES OF LIPS: close points, flat tops, roller coaster, large lower

34. OCCUPATIONAL MARKS: Some marks develop due to the kind of occupation performed by an individual. Some examples are given below: Tailor: marks of pin pricks. Dish washer: hands are rough, soddy and bigger in shape due to continuous exposure to water. Truck driver: Corns on palm.

35. SAMPLE BERTILLON CARDS Bertillon card for Thomas Conway, Measurements for Thomas Conway. arrested for larceny (portraits), May 11, 1911.

36. Bertillon card for May Walker, arrested for general theft (portraits), September 8, 1910. Bertillon card for May Walker, arrested for general theft (measurements), September 8, 1910

37. CASE STUDY: In the late 1800’s, France was a haven for anarchist groups and the location of related acts of terrorism.  On March 11, 1892, terrorists dynamited the home of a Paris judge who had presided over the convictions of a group of anarchists the year before.  The judge escaped injury but was in danger of future attacks.   Under merciless grilling, a harmless schoolteacher with anarchist connections broke down and identified the bomber, a five foot four inch, bearded terrorist named Ravachol.  The police suspected that a man who met that description, a man named Francois Koenigstein, might be Ravachol.  At the time Koenigstein was wanted, by the police in several French towns, for murder, theft, burglary and grave robbery.  When arrested in Paris in 1889 for theft, a case that did not result in his conviction, but Koenigstein had been measured by Bertillon . .

38. Therefore, if the man who called himself Ravachol was indeed Koenigstein, and was arrested for any crime, the police would learn of his true identify and the extent of his criminal activity.  Moreover, if Ravachol, the political terrorist was in fact a common murderer and thief, this revelation would deal the anarchist movement a serious blow. In April, 1892, Ravachol struck again, bombing an apartment house that was the home of a government prosecutor.  The prosecutor was not injured but four other tenants of the building were seriously hurt.  Ravachol claimed credit, and the anarchist newspapers portrayed  him as a hero. 

39. Two days later, the police, after receiving a tip that the terrorist was in a particular restaurant having breakfast, stormed the establishment and took him into custody.   Bertillon took the suspect’s measurements, checked  his files for a match, then announced that the man who claimed to be the famous terrorist Ravachol was in fact the common criminal,  Francois Koenigstein. The terrorist arrested as Ravachol, notwithstanding Bertillon’s declaration regarding his true identify, denied that he was Koenigstein.  He was tried, however, as Koenigstein and was convicted of  the Paris apartment bombing.  When Koenigstein went on trial for murder, a killing in Lyons, France, the judge sentenced him to death.  It was at that point that the man who called himself Ravachol admitted to being Francois Koenigstein.  He confessed to another murder, several thefts, and grave robbery.  

40. Portrait Parle for Ravachol

41. The Koenigstein-Ravachol affair made headlines all over Europe, added luster to Bertillon’s fame, and spread the adoption of anthropometry to other nations.  In 1892, India became the first country outside of France to adopt  bertillonage  nationwide .  Five years later, during which time 250,000 Indians were measured, the country would switch to fingerprinting.   Bertillonage  was not a failure in India, it was just that fingerprinting, as a system of identification, was simply less involved and more efficient.

42. DECLINE OF BERTILLONAGE The “portrait parle” method remained prestigious for quite a while, as it was believed that experienced police officers were able to draw on it to “identify with certainty a suspect who mingled with the crowd”. However telegraphic transmission of data was difficult- despite the invention of several dedicated codes- and no agreement was ever reached on the universal terminology, which proved fatal to the portrait parle, whose use gradually declined in the inter war period.

43. FINGERPRINT KILLED THE BERTILLON STAR The complexity of the Bertillon system- the very thing that provided it with such accurate and reliable data- also proved to be its downfall: it was simply too cumbersome to replicate with sufficient accuracy. A fingerprint is a physical sign that cannot be falsified or disguised, and the mathematical likelihood of two individuals having identical fingerprints is infinitely small.

44. REFERENCES http://criminocorpus.cnrs.fr http://onin.com http://jimfisher.edinboro.edu http://www.britannica.com http://www.infojustice.com http://www.casebook.org www.nlm.nih.gov http://www.forensicartist.com