On the other hand, it is a matter of common knowledge, that two
photographs of the same person, taken under different conditions of
lighting or with different lenses may readily be thought to be the
portraits of two distinct individuals, or that a photograph of one person
may unduly emphasise a momentary expression differing from the normal one,
with the result that the portrait may be mistaken for a likeness of
someone else. These considerations fully explain the numerous instances of
mistaken identification, some of which are cited below, where the police
based their recognition upon old photographs.
Prior to the introduction of the anthropometric and finger-print systems,
the insufficiency of the photographic records kept by the police in this
country for the identification of criminals was repeatedly proved. The
advisability of introducing the French anthropometric system into England
was raised in Parliament on several occasions in 1887 and 1888, but each
time the Home Secretary defended the system of photographic registration
as being sufficiently satisfactory, while he considered it doubtful
whether the French system would be any better.
A sufficient answer to this official defence was afforded by the number of
cases of mistaken recognition from photographs, that shortly afterwards
were brought before both Houses of Parliament.
In 1888, the Lord Chief Justice (Coleridge) mentioned an instance that had
come under his notice at the Gloucester Assizes. After a man had been
convicted of some small offence police evidence was given that the
prisoner was a man who had been convicted before. This was subsequently
proved to be a mistake.
Again, in July, 1889, after the conviction of a prisoner, evidence was
given by a warder that the man was one who had been sentenced to seven
years' penal servitude and seven years' police supervision.
It was found afterwards, however, that this man had been previously
convicted in 1882 and therefore could not possibly have been the person
alleged. The remarkable feature about this mistake was that both men had
been under the police control at the same time.
The failure to identify a criminal from the photographic records had a
tragic result in 1888, when a man named Jackson was given a light sentence
as a first offender. Although he had been previously convicted of numerous
crimes, and was at the time "wanted" by the police for housebreaking and
other offences he escaped recognition, and was able to take advantage of
the lenient treatment he received by murdering a warder in the prison at
Manchester.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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