[alwa]

It may also be that establishing which people you need to sample to substantiate somebody’s claims of lineage, gathering the consent and the samples (potentially across jurisdictions), testing to judicial standards, and procuring expert interpretation involves a fair amount of professionals’ time and energy, as well as substantial cost. It seems like much of the judicial system depends on things being largely within the realm of the reasonably imaginable, and this crime is so weird. I mean—sustaining that level of imposture for 35 years? A sane-seeming person being able to document 35 years of living under this name, in formal paperwork that’s legible to the state? When is that ever the most likely explanation?

I think back over the number of marginal people I’ve met, many of whom are in altered mental states either temporary or permanent, who claim to be secretly Rothschilds, or spurned princes, or reincarnated deities, or representatives of extraterrestrial species… while the long delay in applying technology here delayed the fix to a travesty, I understand why the policy for the routine use of that technology may be what it is.

If anything, I’d be curious how the detective got authorization to apply so much time and so many resources to running this claim to ground.

[SailorJerry]

I generally agree with this point of view, because a 100% failsafe solution can be so costly. I think medicine is a good example of how the cost of perfection scales badly.

However, it sounds like significant resources went to institutionalizing the person. Maybe that's good for the police who get to take the cost off their books. The government overall is still paying.

[Ekaros]

This is why any identification period should start from birth. Parents and relatives, possible kindergarten, home addresses, schools, etc. Something that might be much harder for the thieve to remember. And too many failures in these should destroy any later evidence completely.

[dmurray]

How would this work for "any identification period"? Any time I want to apply for a credit card or move house or enrol in a school, someone responsible needs to quiz me on all those things and verify them in a way that is secure, yet doesn't leak information to the next identity thief?

This is madness. Instead, you have a fairly rigorous process for some form of state-issued ID, and allow using that to reduce friction in every other identification process.

In this case, the identity thief fraudulently obtained a state ID, and later a birth certificate, which really does "start from birth". The institutions that issued him with those probably could have done better, but they can't stop everyone, and they need to make some tradeoffs when demanding documentation from decades ago just to let their citizens participate in society.

[RecycledEle]

> This is why any identification period should start from birth.

How does that work for immigrants?

How does that work for kids of parents who do not care enough to keep track of their kids identity documents?

How dies that work for orphans or children of incarcerated parents of children of homeless addicts who are raised by grandparents or an aunt?

As a teacher, I know the world is not so simple.

[Ekaros]

Contact the country of origin.

Should not matter.

This is the simplest case, there should be plenty of information with child protective services. Just verify some of those facts.

[saagarjha]

Why do you think the country of origin has better records?