Science of Criminalistics

A Term Paper
Presented to the
Faculty of Graduate School
Philippine College of Criminology
Sta. Cruz, Manila, Philippines



In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Subject:
________________________________


By
PSUPT EDWIN PORTENTO
Second Semester 2013



A. Dactylsocopy
Dactylography refers to the impression on a surface of the curves formed by the
ridges on a fingertip; especially, such an impression made in ink and used as a means
of identification. It is the technique of comparing fingerprints, typically those found at the
setting of a crime and those of a suspect. Due to the uniqueness of the fingers' and
hands' papillar lines, it is generally considered a reliable method of identifying a person.
Police investigators are experts in collecting dactylograms, otherwise known as
fingerprints. These are composite of the ridge outlines formed/reproduced when
perspiring. On non-hairy skin the ridges are formed by the different patterns determined
to distinguish identity whereas on hairy skin, the ridges are irregular, slender and
intermittent and do not form any pattern. It is a universal knowledge that fingerprint is
the most positive means of personal identification. As such, fingerprint as evidence is
accepted in every court of justice in any part of the globe.
It is an accepted principle that there is no possibility of finding two individuals to
possess identical fingerprints or that nature never duplicates itself in the smallest
details. Pioneers of fingerprints, Galton and Locard believe in the Law of Probability in
the duplication of fingerprints between two individuals. This view however is disputable
considering that fingerprints are as old as mankind. But up to the present time, every
police department of the world used Fingerprints as a means of personal identification.
Nobody has ever found individuals possessing identical fingerprints.
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1
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/149492/dactyloscopy
B. Questioned Document
Questioned documents may include forged checks, contracts or other official
documents requiring signatures, or they may involve the examination of ransom notes
or notes given to a bank teller in a robbery. In short, questioned documents are any
document in which the veracity is in dispute or which is determined to have been used
in a crime. Forensic experts examine questioned documents to verify their authenticity
or to identify evidence that may be used in successful prosecution of crime.
Questioned documents are often important in other contexts simply because
documents are used in so many different contexts and for so many different purposes.
For example, a person may commit murder and forge a suicide note. This is an example
wherein a document is produced directly as a fundamental part of a crime. More often a
questioned document is simply the by-product of normal day-to-day business or
personal activities.
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C. Polygraphy
The polygraph is commonly referred to as a lie detector, but it does not recognize
lies. A specific physiological lie response has never been demonstrated and is unlikely
to exist. Instead, it records physiological activity associated with arousal in the
autonomic nervous system. The responses it measures are not unique to deception, nor
are they always engendered by it. The aim of the polygraph examiner is to establish a
psychological set in the examinee that will increase the likelihood that any observed
arousal to specific questions is the result of deceptive responses. Whether this arousal
is caused by a fear of being caught out in a lie, a conditioned response to the act of
lying, orientation to a matter of emotional salience, the increased cognitive processing

2
Harrison, W.R. (1958). Suspect Documents: Their Scientific Examination. New York: Praeger.
required for deception, or some other mechanism is unclear, although theories involving
orientation to threat and emotional salience are becoming increasingly popular.
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D. Photography
It is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or
other electromagnetic radiation, either chemically by means of a light-sensitive material
such asphotographic film, or electronically by means of an image sensor. Typically, a
lens is used to focus the light reflected or emitted from objects into a real image on the
light-sensitive surface inside a camera during a time dexposure. The result in an
electronic image sensor is an electrical charge at each pixel, which is electronically
processed and stored in a digital image file for subsequent display or processing.
The result in a photographic emulsion is an invisible latent image, which is later
chemically developed into a visible image, either negative or positive depending on the
purpose of the photographic material and the method of processing. A negative image
on film is traditionally used to photographically create a positive image on a paper base,
known as a print, either by using an enlarger or by contact printing.
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E. Fire arms
Firearms is defined as a shot gun or rifle having a barrel of less than eighteen
inches in length, or any other weapon, except a pistol or revolver, from which a shot is
discharged by an explosive if such weapon is capable of being concealed on the
person, or a machine gun, and includes a muffler or silencer for any firearm whether or
not such firearm is included within the foregoing definition.

3
Zuckerman M, Spiegel NH, DePaulo BM, et al: Nonverbal strategies for decoding deception. J Nonverb
Behav 6:17187,1982
4
Potonnie, Georges (1973). The history of the discovery of photography. Arno Press. p. 50.
Law involving firearms governs the registration of any weapon which will or is
designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an
explosive; the frame or receiver of any such weapon; any firearm muffler or firearm
silencer; or any destructive device, makes it a Federal crime or offense for anyone to
possess certain kinds of firearms which are not registered to him in the National
Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. Laws govern who may own firearms, such
as prohibiting felons to carry guns, childrens' access to firearms, recordkeeping,
transport, and licensing of those dealing in firearms. Federal law makes it unlawful for
any person except a licensed dealer to engage in the business of dealing in firearms.
Some states have also adopted dealer regulations.
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F. Forensic Ballistics
Forensic ballistics involves analysis of bullets and bullet impacts to determine
information of use to a court or other part of a legal system. Separately from ballistics
information, firearm and tool mark examinations ("ballistic fingerprinting") involve
analyzing firearm, ammunition, and tool mark evidence in order to establish whether a
certain firearm or tool was used in the commission of a crime.
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Forensic Ballistics is the
science of mechanics that deals with the launching, flight, behavior, and effects of
projectiles, especially bullets, gravity bombs, rockets, or the like; the science or art of
designing and accelerating projectiles so as to achieve a desired performance. A
ballistic body is a body with momentum which is free to move, subject to forces, such as
the pressure of gases in a gun or a propulsive nozzle, by rifling in a barrel, by gravity, or
by air drag. A ballistic missile is a missile only guided during the relatively brief initial

5
http://wiki.calgunsfoundation.org/Definition_of_a_firearm/gun
6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistics
powered phase of flight, whose trajectory is subsequently governed by the laws of
classical mechanics, in contrast to a cruise missile which is aerodynamically guided in
powered flight.
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G. Forgery and Handwriting
Forgery is the creation of a false written document or alteration of a genuine one,
with the intent to defraud. Forgery consists of filling in blanks on a document containing
a genuine signature, or materially altering or erasing an existing instrument. An
underlying intent to defraud, based on knowledge of the false nature of the instrument,
must accompany the act. Instruments of forgery may include bills of exchange, bills of
lading, promissory notes, checks, bonds, receipts, orders for money or goods,
mortgages, discharges of mortgages, deeds, public records, account books, and certain
kinds of tickets or passes for transportation or events. Statutes define forgery as a
felony. Punishment generally consists of a fine or imprisonment, or both. Methods of
forgery include handwriting, printing, engraving, and typewriting. The related crime of
uttering a forged document occurs when an inauthentic writing is intentionally offered as
genuine. Some modern statutes include this crime with forgery.
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Handwriting is the activity of writing by hand done with a pen or pencil. It is also a
style or manner of writing by hand, especially that which characterizes a particular
person. Almost every person's handwriting has something whereby it may be
distinguished from the writing of others, and this difference is sometimes intended by
the term. It is sometimes necessary to prove that a certain instrument or name is in the

7
Kohen M., Garfinkel S.L., Schatz B.: Extending the advanced forensic format to accommodate multiple
data sources, logical evidence, arbitrary information and forensic workflow. In: Digital Investigation vol.
6.1, pp. 57--68. Elsevier (2009)
8
Brayer, Ruth. 2000. Detecting Forgery in Fraud Investigations: The Insider's Guide. Alexandria, Va.:
ASIS International.
handwriting of a particular person; that is done either by the testimony of a witness, who
saw the paper or signature actually written, or by one who has by sufficient means,
acquired such a knowledge of the general character of the handwriting of the party, as
will enable him to swear to his belief, that the handwriting of the person is the
handwriting in question.
Handwriting identification is based on the principle that, while handwriting within
a language tends to be alike to the degree that we can meaningfully read it, there are
individual features that distinguish one person's writing from that of another. Just as no
two people are exactly alike, the handwritings of no two people are exactly alike in their
combination of characteristics. There are, of course, natural variations within the
handwriting of each individual. These variations must be closely and carefully studied by
the examiner, so that he can distinguish between the "variation" and the difference.
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H. Fundamentals and Basics of Dactyloscopy
Dactyloscopy is the recovery of latent fingerprints with a wide range of analysis
methods for different kinds of surfaces is a commonly used criminal investigation
technique. Currently, the recovery is a manual process, done by specialists. However,
the manual processing of latent fingerprints is time-consuming and implies physical and
chemical modifications of the original trace, due to vaporization.
Since Francis Galton published his classic textbook Finger Prints in 1852 and Sir
Edward Henry developed a system to classify fingerprints in 1897, it could be argued
that the science of fingerprinting remains the single most important discovery in criminal

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http://www.safde.org/whatwedo.htm
justice. Only DNA rivals the fingerprint as an absolute method of proving persons
identification.
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Most police officers have a basic understanding of fingerprints. Because the Fifth
Amendment offers no protection against being forced to submit to fingerprinting,
arrested persons are routinely fingerprinted on a fingerprint card or have their prints
recorded digitally for transmittal to a variety of state and federal agencies. In 1992, the
FBI s Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) was established and
currently has more than 80 million criminal and civil subjects in its fingerprint files.
With the advent of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), prints can be
submitted electronically with a turnaround time of hours instead of months. AFIS uses
computers to scan and encode fingerprints. It can make fingerprint comparisons and
produce a short-list of prints on file that have the closest correlation to the search
print(s). (A trained fingerprint expert then makes a final determination on whether there
is a match.) The ability to scan an entire database to determine if a latent or patent
fingerprint found at a crime scene matches a print on file has revolutionized the art of
criminal investigation.
A Fingerprint is an individual characteristic. No fingerprints have been shown to be
identical, therefore no fingerprints are identical. This is used throughout science, and
will hold up until one contradictory example is found. As it is impossible to test every
fingerprint on every person living, not to mention those in the past & those yet to be
born, in the absence of contradictory evidence this will continue to be accepted as a
fundamental principle.

10
Smith, Michael. Latent Fingerprints on Latex Gloves. International Association for Identification.
A Fingerprint will remain unchanged during an individuals lifetime. Fingerprints
have general ridge patterns that can be systematically classified. Three classes of
fingerprints: loops, whorls, and arches: Loops: 60-65% of the population has loops.
Must have one or more ridges entering from one side of the print, curving and exiting
from the same side; Loop opening toward little finger: ulnar loop (As the ulna is the
medial bone) and Loop opening toward thumb: radial loop (As the radius is the lateral
bone). Plain whorls must have at least one ridge that makes a complete circuit, and an
imaginary line from one delta to the other must touch a whorl ridge. Central pocket
whorls must have at least one ridge that makes a complete circuit, and an imaginary
line from one delta to the other cannot touch a whorl ridge.
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I. Enumerate the scientific use of photography in police works
Every citizen who is interested in the progress of society acknowledges that, in
civilized countries, the police is entrusted with a noble task, which fact is reflected by the
science whose aim it is to raise the efficiency of this powerful weapon of social defense.
The technical function of judicial police is an important part of it. It requires the
application of scientific methods of describing individuals, taking their photographs and
finger prints, reproducing criminal local inquests, and for picking up the tracks of
criminals. It comprises the Bertillon system, numerous chapters of legal medicine, and
judicial photography. This technical side is only a part of the police function.
Innovations in criminal justice technology can be divided into two broad
categories: hard technology (hardware or materials) and soft technology (computer
software, information systems). Hard technology innovations include new materials,
devices, and equipment that can be used to either commit crime or prevent and control

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http://www.ridgesandfurrows.homestead.com/
crime. An initial distinction can be made between criminal justice innovations that have
a hard material base as against a less tangible information soft base even if in practice
these are often interwoven. We increasingly see hard technologies intended to prevent
crime the ubiquitous CCTV cameras, metal detectors in schools, baggage screening
at airports, bullet proof teller windows at banks, and security systems at homes and
businesses. Photography is also helpful to rest all police work on the thorough
knowledge of man, especially of the criminal type, and to make use of the teachings of
technology for the better prevention and suppression of crimes and for the discovery
and more efficient supervision of criminals.
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J. Discuss the principle of fingerprints
Fingerprints are the patterns visible on human fingers, palms and the soles of
feet. More technically they are ridge patterns on friction ridge skin that are created by
the arrangement of various elements (such as sweat glands, nerves, blood vessels and
fat cells) within the dermis. These Friction ridge prints are the results of accidental
arrangements that occur during gestation. They are unique and individual (even
between identical twins). They are also unchanging save for serious physical damage to
the relevant area of skin.
Some other animals have also evolved to have their own unique prints: these
include many primates, such as gorillas and chimpanzees, koalas and aquatic mammal
species. According to one study, even with an electron microscope, it can be quite
difficult to distinguish between the fingerprints of a koala and a human. The formation of
latent marks that are ultimately enhanced and presented as fingerprint evidence that

12
SOGHOIAN, C. (2011). The Law Enforcement Surveillance Reporting Gap unpublished report, Center
for Applied Cybersecurity Research, Indiana University, Bloomington (April 10, 2011). Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1806628
occurs through the deposition of material from the fingers/ palms/ soles. The mark left
depends upon the particular physical and chemical interaction between the surface
(where the material is deposited) and the skin (the origin of the deposit).
The "print" developed by an investigator and ultimately presented as evidence is
an enhancement of the pattern discernible within the material deposited using various
processes that are appropriate to the particular surface. The discernible pattern is of
course a physical negative of the friction skin ridge patterns of the finger, palm or sole
of the human who contacted the surface. It is the comparison of a print found at a
location or on a particular object to a reference or sample print that provides probative
evidence to a court. Examination of a crime scene for example may reveal a number of
separate prints, from prints of people legitimately there to the print(s) of persons
unknown. It is through the exclusion of some (the persons authorised to be there) and
the matching of others (the person(s) unknown) with a sample print or prints taken from
databases that the print found becomes relevant evidence. Criminal lawyers will almost
invariably come across fingerprint evidence where a Police expert will be saying that an
accuseds print was found in an incriminating location. It is evidence that establishes the
identity of a person who has had contact with the surface from which the print is lifted.
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The secretions, skin oils and dead cells in a human fingerprint will contain
residues of various chemicals and their metabolites present in the body of the owner of
the print (not to mention the owners DNA). These chemicals can potentially be detected
and used for forensic purposes. For example, the fingerprints of tobacco smokers will
contain traces of cotinine, a nicotine metabolite; they will also contain traces of nicotine
itself.

13
Smith, Michael. Latent Fingerprints on Latex Gloves. International Association for Identification.