FINGERPRINT

ANALYSIS
© POULOMI BHADRA
FORENSIC AND LEGAL SCIENCES
What makes a fingerprint?
Are all the fingerprints on your fingers the same?

Do identical twins have the same fingerprints or

different?
What about fraternal twins?

What are latent prints?

Dermal
composition
of ridges
 HOW DO
PATTERNS FORM?
Transfer from pore excretions
spread over ridges
Ridges imprint – ink, sweat,
contaminants, oils
Pressure, substrate and other
activity determine mark
 To identify people specifically because fingerprints are :

Unique

Why do we Permanent
use
fingerprints in
forensics? Universal

Simple to collect and record

Additional layer of accuracy added by

poroscopy
 Depends on substrate and other evidences to
HOW DO WE be collected on item.
COLLECT Substances used to get fingerprints on surfaces:
PRINTS? Light of specific wavelengths
Powders - aluminium, magnetic, black and coloured fluorescent,
dragon’s blood

Chemical development (spray and light)- Cyanoacrylate,

ninhydrin, vacuum metal deposition

Protein stains - amido black

(NEW SCIENCE) – Indigenous and extraneous elemental ions

ACE–V METHODOLOGY

ANALYSIS COMPARISON EVALUATION VERIFICATION

AFIS
LEVELS OF
COMPARISON
Comparison process:
Print to print
Mark to mark
Mark to print
Arches
Loops
Whorls
Second Level Details
 Third Level Details
individual ridge unit shape, relative pore position
POROSCOPY
The absence of pore
does not necessarily
prove a mismatch.

However, the
existence of a pore in
the same place as
another, but located
in slightly different
position is likely to
indicate a mismatch.
Creases
Scars
Palm (and feet) Lines
The surfaces of our hands and feet are crisscrossed in
various patterns of lines.
While in isolation they may not be unique, their particular
features, in combination with other such creases, create a
fairly unique profile.
This is not proven to be identical (yet) but may be a
supportive evidence to identity.
 When the ridge characteristics in two
When is a pair impressions under comparison satisfy
these conditions:
of fingerprints
They are the same pattern
from two
In the same order
sources
Same relationship to each other in both,
considered a with sufficient agreement and none in
match? disagreement – unless there is an
explainable difference.
How much is
sufficient?
Subjective opinion – depends on
the quality of print and
knowledge and experience of
expert
General basis: Clarity of image
high, less friction ridge
characteristics need to be in
agreement; tolerance for any
discrepancy between two
impressions will be low and vice
versa.
Spain Bombing debris Vs Brandon Mayfield
 Isolating a single print from a mixture depends on these factors:
▪How easy is it to distinguish the line patterns that belong to the
same fingerprint?
▪Is there any smudging, blurring, or any other kind of obliteration?
ISOLATING A ▪How many fingerprints are there? What is their orientation with
SINGLE PRINT respect to each other? – the lesser the number, the easier to
distinguish.
FROM A
▪How many of those prints are likely to be known? - For example,
MIXTURE if a phone that is used mostly used by one person has been
touched by an unknown person, it may be easy to find out the
unknown person’s print by ruling out all the prints that match the
owner’s.
Computer aided identification and AFIS

Computer can
follow the
intensity of the
lines and figure
out patterns that
are likely to have
come from a
single finger.
However, this
method is not
error-free. Hence,
its reliability can
be questioned.

How a fingerprint mixture would appear

after developing – uniformly shaded