Criminal Identification and Fingerprint Technology in England and Norway at the Dawn of a New Era

The article focuses on the development of fingerprint and other methods of criminal identification in England and Norway between the late nineteenth and the first decades of the twentieth century. The research investigates both the theoretical value and the practical utility of criminal identification methods, by analysing their strengths and weaknesses in a constantly evolving scenario. To achieve this purpose, the article will examine a number of case studies, which gave rise to passionate debates in the legal world as well as in public opinion. Particular attention will be paid to two trials which took place in early twentieth century: these cases deserve special consideration because for the first time fingerprinting proved to give decisive evidence to establish the identity of the culprits. Such trials therefore opened the doors to a new era, characterized by the use of fingerprint technique, which in the following decades would become a most reliable identification method.