Identification of a Living Person

A) In civil cases:

• Identification of a living person is very important in cases such as: marriage, inheritance, or in case of people impersonating somebody else to obtain unlawful property.

• Identification of living body follows all the points mentioned for the dead with the addition of certain features as:

  1. Character of voice, the expression, hand writing (right or left handed).

  2. Standard of education, the intellect and the accent.

  3. Any mannerism in speech and movements of the hands during talking and any tics.

  4. Any peculiarities in the gait during walking.

  5. Photographs: side view and face view, but they can often be misleading by accidental reversing of a negative to find that wounds which were on the left side of the face appear to be on the right side.
     

B) In criminal cases:

Personal identification of living persons in criminal cases is essentially the work of the police, depending on:

• Anthropometry:
• Bertillon system Anthropology:
• (Anthropos = man and metron = measurement)
• It deals with the measurement of various parts of the human body. The system is applicable to adults only because the human body does not alter after about the age of 21 years and that no two persons show the same measurements in all respects.
• Finger Prints (Dactylography).
• Foot prints, palm prints, lip prints, iris prints, and voice prints
• DNA fingerprints

Category: Forensic Medicine Notes