SEMESTER 20224

OCTOBER 2022 - FEBRUARY 2023

FRS531: PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

EXPERIMENT 2: A LAB ON FINGERPRINTS

(LIFTING A LATENT FINGERPRINT)

NAME: NUR AQILAH BINTI MOHD AZLI

STUDENT ID: 2021609214

GROUP: AS2533A1
LECTURER’S NAME: DR KAVITHA (LAB PRACTICAL)

SIR EZLAN BIN ELIAS (MARKING)

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 15TH JANUARY 2023

OBJECTIVE(S)

1. To give exposure and promote familiarity with the main features of human fingerprints.
2. To develop skills in dusting and lifting latent fingerprints.
3. To compare fingerprints of suspects to fingerprints lifted from a simulated crime scene.

INTRODUCTION

Fingerprints are one of the simplest logical evidence that could be lifted and collected widely at
almost all the general crime scene cases following the Locard’s Principle “whenever two objects
come in contact with one and another, materials are exchanged against them” or in a simpler
interpretation is traces are left with every contact you made with any objects or surfaces. They
could be found widely in any possible objects related to the crime scene such as door, the car
door, outside the windows or even weapons found that were believed to have correlation with the
crime. Fingerprint is a reproduction of skin ridges found on the palm side of the fingers and
thumbs and it gives an individual characteristic to a person since no two individuals share the
same ridge characteristics or minutiae and they remain how they were being produced since birth
for a lifetime.

Fingerprints can be classified into three general ridges or patterns: loops, whorls, and arches.
Average number of minutiae in a person’s fingerprints are between the range of 150 to 180
minutiae and the standard of number of minutiae that shall be discovered enough to prove the
similarity of the lifted fingerprint with the suspect’s fingerprint are more than 24 minutiae.
However, in Malaysia, if there are 8 to 16 minutiae could be discovered, it can be proceeded for
further comparisons. The general ridge characteristics or minutiae that are commonly discovered
in general fingerprints include bifurcations, ridge endings, enclosures, and ridge dots. If a
significant number of points is comparable between the two fingerprints, they are said to belong
to the same individual.

PROCEDURE

Materials needed:

1. Fingerprint ink pad

2. White A4 paper
3. Black fingerprint powder
4. Squirrel tail brush
5. Black fingerprint magnetic powder

Part A. Cellophane tape

1. Any one of the fingers was wiped on the nose to gather extra oil and firm pressure was
applied to a clean lightly coloured surface such as table surface.
2. The brush was gently dipped into the fingerprint magnetic powder and brushed lightly
over the surface of part with the print made on the surface of the table with small, light
circular as well as up and down stroke.
 3. As a clear print was visible, the tacky side of the cellophane tape was applied to the
brushed printed fingerprint and the tape was rubbed slowly but firmly to ensure the print
was lifted thoroughly.
4. Once the powdered print was ensured to be tacked to the tape, the tape was slowly lifted
and transferred to a clean A4 paper. The remaining part of the cellophane tape without
the print was cut.

Part B. Lifting a latent print

1. Any one of the fingers was wiped on the nose to gather extra oil and firm pressure was
applied to a clean lightly coloured surface such as table surface.
2. The brush was gently dipped into the fingerprint magnetic powder and brushed lightly
over the surface of part with the print made on the surface of the table with small, light
circular as well as up and down stroke.
3. The print was then lifted using the Hinge lifter once it was clean.

RESULTS/DATA

Part A. Cellophane tape

Part B. Hinge lifter
QUESTIONS

1. Using the fingerprints below, identify each of the following features; a lake, bifurcation,
island and ridge ending. Circle the feature and label it. You only need to identify each feature
once, and you may not need to use all of the prints for this exercise. In addition, identify the
fingerprint pattern (arch, loop etc) for each print.

1 2 3

4 5 6

Answer :
Patterns of the fingerprints

1 Radial loop
2 Double loop whorl
3 Central pocket loop whorl
4 Plain whorl
5 Plain arch
6 Tented arch

2. Case Study 1: You are a forensic scientist investigating a homicide. You are given an
aluminum baseball bat used in the beating death of a gang member. You manage to lift a
partial latent print from the bat. Your job is to compare the partial print to the fingerprintsof
3 rival gang members suspected in the beating death. Below is the partial print as well as
the prints of the suspects. Write a report summarizing the results of your investigation.In it,
you should include information on the latent print (basic fingerprint type and any
distinguishing characteristics) as well as the fingerprint of the suspect you believe matchesit
(if any). You should describe the process by which you found your match – for example,you
may rule out some suspect prints because they are not the same basic pattern as your latent
print. You may cut and paste the prints into your report if you wish and use them toindicate
what features you have identified. To get better resolution, you can view the printsin Word
and view them at 150%. You should also indicate how confident you are in your results.
Recall that most courts require 12 points to match for it to be considered a match.
Answer:

Partial print from crime scene Suspect B’s fingerprint

 1 Ridge ending

2 Bifurcation

3 Bifurcation

4 Bifurcation

5 Island/Short ridge

6 Bifurcation

7 Ridge ending

8 Bifurcation

9 Ridge ending

10 Bifurcation

11 Ridge ending

12 Ridge ending

Based on the data of the lifted partial print from the crime scene, the fingerprint’s pattern could
be identified as radial loop. If it was to be compared with the provided fingerprint data of the
three suspects, all suspects would have the same pattern except for Suspect C. Suspect C was the
most unlikely to be the suspect in this case since the pattern was tented arch and had different
marks printed as from the lifted partial print. Suspect B was the strongest suspect since it had the
same loop pattern as well as more similar in the aspects of the scars mark compared to Suspect
A which had slightly different scars mark. After analysis of the minutiae points and types were
done, Suspect B was the most comparable to the partial lifted fingerprint from the crime scene
with 12 points of minutiae found similar to one and another.

3. As stated earlier in the lab handout, there is some controversy over the veracity of fingerprint
evidence, particularly in light of the Daubert standards. Imagine you are a trialjudge faced
with defense attorneys arguing that fingerprint evidence should not beintroduced in a trial
because no systematic study or studies have been conducted to determine the accuracy with
which a partial print can be matched to a fingerprint, and that no uniform standards for
 determining whether a match exist. Briefly explain your position on the admissibility of
fingerprint evidence and explain whether you feel the field of fingerprint analysis is a
reliable science under the Daubert guidelines.

Answer = As a trial judge, I am strongly believe that fingerprint evidence is one of the
relevant evidence to be admitted into the court since it is not something that manipulative
where it would change over time or deteriorate as it could stay preserved as how it was
since birth for a lifetime. The admissibility of the fingerprints analysis as a reliable
scientific could be proven since it has been used for over hundreds of decades since the
first introduction of the fingerprint matching technology by Sir Francis Galton in 1880 and
the technology was surely evolved with more advanced technology with higher accuracy
readings on the fingerprint patterns hence lower potential error rate could be ensured. Not
only that, the nature of fingerprints ridges patterns or minutiae as an individual
characteristic physical evidence supports the lower potential error occurrence since no two
individuals would share the exact same fingerprint patterns with exact points and types of
minutiae. Due to the natural biological factor, the traces of fingerprints could be easily
found almost on every crime case since the oils secreted on the surface of our skin make it
possible for the suspects or victims left their fingerprints within the area of the crime or
onto any surfaces they were possibly made contact with. Hence, field of fingerprint
analysis is reliable scientific evidence that could provide a strong support to a certain
statement to narrow down the probability of the crime suspects as well as the factor
affecting why the crime was committed.

DISCUSSION

Fingerprints are one of the commonly physical evidence to be found on most cases of crime
especially homicide, robbery or assault. The development of minutiae in a person’s fingerprints
made fingerprints a very useful individual characteristics physical evidence since there would
never be where two people share the same exact fingerprints. Fingerprints also will remain
unchanged for a lifetime that even the fingerprints of the dead body could be recovered though
the process would be a bit finicky due to some biological factors. Fingerprints could be classified
into three general patterns-loops, whorls, and arch. Loops are the most common with
approximately 60 to 65% of the population would have loops pattern on their fingerprints. There
are two types of loops, that are radial loop and ulnar loop. Four types of whorls would be plain
whorl, double loop whorl, central pocket loop whorl and accidental whorl. Arch could be
classified into two types of patterns which were plain arch and tented arch which had more
pointed arch compared to plain arch. There should be only about 5% in a population that would
have arch pattern of fingerprints.

The comparable points and type of minutiae found in a lifted fingerprint with a standard
provided fingerprints that could helped narrowed down the list of suspect and provided
supportive statements before verdict was made in a crime case. In this experiment, we were
exposed on how to make the prints of our fingerprints with the fingerprint ink provided as well
obtained the skills on lifting the fingerprints from the surfaces within the room. The latent
fingerprints were made into a higher contrast and became visibly observed using fingerprints silk
and magnetic powders. Both cellophane tape and Hinge lifter were being used to lift the
powdered prints of fingerprints before transferred onto an A4 paper to be analyzed. The patterns
of the fingerprints were being identified and the minutiae points were being comparable between
the inked and powdered fingerprints to get the idea on how comparisons were made in real crime
cases before we could made a verdict that the fingerprints belonged to the same person. The
exact points of the location of the minutiae as well as the matching types shall be the same to
point out that it came from the same person. The common minutiae found based on the analysis
of the fingerprints from the data obtained were bifurcations, island or short ridge, ridge endings,
and lake(enclosures).

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, fingerprints patterns could be divided into three general patterns which were
loops, whorls, and arch. Latent fingerprints could be enhanced by using either fingerprints silk or
magnetic powder before they were being lifted by using cellophane tape or Hinge lifter. Based
on the analysis on the latent fingerprints lifted, bifurcations, island or short ridge, ridge endings
and lake(enclosures) were the most common minutiae found on the fingerprints. Since there were
9 points of minutiae of the lifted latent fingerprint that were matched with the inked fingerprint,
it could be concluded that the fingerprints belonged to the same person.

REFERENCES

1. Cappellino, A. (2022, April 11). The Daubert Standard: A Guide To Motions, Hearings,
and Rulings. Expert Institute. Retrieved January 12, 2023, from
https://www.expertinstitute.com/resources/insights/the-daubert-standard-a-guide-
to-motions-hearings-and-rulings/

2. Dr Surat P. (2020, October 28). Fingerprint Analysis in Forensic Science.

AZoLifeSciences. Retrieved January 12, 2023, from
https://www.azolifesciences.com/article/Fingerprint-Analysis-in-Forensic-
Science.aspx

3. Saferstein, R. (2014). Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science. Pearson.