Theoretical Background Theoretical Background Fingerprint matching was developed in the 19th century. Although crude at the time, it opened our eyes to a new type of identification of individuals since each person has a unique set of fingerprints. Since its first development, we have discovered several ways to use this cutting edge technology.
Forensic investigators use it regularly to identify criminals.
Although both of these uses for fingerprint matching use the same underlying technology, they are used in such different environments and for such different goals that one cannot simply use a forensic fingerprint identification system in the civil arena. Even in strictly the civil arena each identification system must be tailored to suit the application for which it is being used. However, even with all these differences, one factor remains common to all systems and that is a need for accuracy and speed. For the AFIS, people want to make sure that their lives are secure, and no one can pretend to be them. They do not want to wait forever to be verified that they are who they are in order to continue on in the process of voter registration, getting a driver's license or which ever process they may be going through.