Fingerprint identification is an invaluable tool that has helped governments and law enforcement agencies identify criminals and people of interest for well over 100 years. To date, no two fingerprints have been found to be alike, making it an effective and reliable system of identification. What’s more, unlike facial features and physical characteristics which tend to change over time, barring any accidental or intentional modification or disfigurement, fingerprints remain consistent throughout adult life. As with most inventions, however, fingerprint identification was born of necessity thanks to a rather bizarre case that took place in Kansas. It may not have been the first case of the use of fingerprints for identification purposes, but it’s certainly one of the more notable ones.
Will West was a convicted criminal about to get his due. Arrested in 1903, he was sentenced to serve his prison term in Leavenworth, Kansas. There was just one problem, the prison in Leavenworth already had a prisoner named William West. Not only that, but the two men looked nearly identical, this despite not being related and never even having met! Prison officials had to quickly come up with a way to distinguish between the two men, and necessity being the mother of invention, they developed a fingerprint identification system which is still at the base of what we use today.
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