FINGERPRINT ANALYSIS

A Topic Presented to Legal Medicine Class (LEGMED 010), UNO-R School of Law
under Atty. Joseph Gedeoni C. Valencia, R.N., Ph.D.

Talking Points

Introduction
Lifting and Preserving Fingerprints
Fingerprint Patterns
Comparing or Matching Fingerprints
Fingerprint Database
Reliability of Fingerprint Analysis
Criticism Against Fingerprint Identification
Defending Fingerprint Analysis
SKP: New Fingerprint Technique

Fingerprints have been a source of

fascination thousands of years.

They

were used as seals on legal

contracts in ancient Babylonia, and
have been found embossed on 6,000
year old Chinese earthenware and
pressed onto walls in the tomb of
Tutankhamun.

1882
Decades

ago fingerprint analysis

replaced anthropometry, which
identified suspects on basis of their
anatomical measurements like size of
head and length of face.

Bartillon system- used for 30 years and

never recover in the event of 1903.
The case of West Brothers.

 When

a man named Will West was

sentenced to the US Penitentiary at
Leavenworth, Kansas. It was discovered
there was already a prisoner at the
penitentiary, whose Bertillon
measurements were nearly the same,
and his name was William West.

Upon investigation, there were indeed two

men who looked very similar. Their names
were William and Will West. Their Bertillon
measurements were close enough to
identify them as the same person.
However, a fingerprint comparison quickly
and per prison records publicized years
later, the West men were apparently
identical twin brothers and each had a
record of correspondence with the same
immediate family relatives correctly
identified them as two different people.

 According

to Sir Francis Galton the

chances of two fingerprints being
identical are as small as g4 billion to
one. In over a century of forensic
fingerprinting, no two prints have
ever been found to be the same,
even those of identical twins.
Because fingerprints are permanent,
unchangeable and most importantly,
unique to each person they are
given much weight in courts.

 This

uniqueness allows fingerprints

to be used in all sort of ways,
including for background checks,
biometric security, mass disaster
identification and in criminal
identifications.

However, the print itself may change due

to permanent scars, chemicals or
diseases.

Nature of Fingerprint
All

of us have minute raised ridges of

skin of the inside surfaces of our
hands and fingers and on the bottom
surfaces of our feet and toes. Called
friction ridges, they provide a
gripping surface much like the thread
pattern of a tire enabling us to
handle things more securely. They
display a number of characteristics
known as minutiae.

Classification of Minutiae

Ridge ending a ridge that ends abruptly

Bifurcation- a single ridge that divides into

two ridges, lake or enclosure

Single ridge that bifurcates and reunites

shortly afterwards to continue as a single
ridge

Short ridge a ridge that commences, travels a

short distance and then ends

Dot an independent ridge with

approximately equal length and width

Spur a bifurcation with a short ridge

branching off longer ridge

Crossover or bridge- a short ridge that runs

between two parallel ridges

Identical twins may have identical DNA but

not the same fingerprints.

How Fingerprints are

tranfered?

Fingerprints are Classified

A.

Plastic prints- are those

reproduced on a flexible but
impressionable surface like putty.

 B.

Patent prints- those that are

evident or observable because they are
sometimes imprinted with blood or ink.

 C.

Latent prints- those hidden or

invisible to the naked eye.

Lifting and Preserving

Fingerprints

1. Dusting is the technique

frequently used in obtaining or
producing a latent fingerprint.

 2.

Chemicals- are used to develop

latent prints and they are chosen
depending on the surface and other
environmental conditions.

Ninhydrin is used to develop fingerprints on

paper. It attracted to the amino acids that
remain on the skin after the water in sweat
evaporates.

 Iodine

fumes to develop
fingerprints on paper. It reacts with
oils, turning them to brownish-violet
color.

 Silver

nitrate turns black in the

presence of salt, can be dipped into or
sprayed on the surfaces containing
fingerprints.

 Superglue

fumes- produce white

crystals in the presence of moisture in
the fingerprints. (Cyanoacrylate)

 C.

Ultraviolet lights when

chemicals cannot be used .

Lifting and Preserving

Fingerprints

Fingerprint Patterns

1. Loops most common; look like a curved

c or e slanted either to the left or right.

They may be radial loops, which point
towards the thumb, or ulnar loops which
point toward the little finger.

2. Whorl swirl and are spiral in shape

and are subdivided into plain whorls,

double loop whorls, central pocket
whorls, and others.

 3.

Arches- create a wave-like pattern and

include plain arches and tented arches. Tented

arches rise to a sharper point than plain arches.
Arches make up about 5% of all pattern type.

Fingerprint Patterns

Comparing or Matching
Fingerprints

To ensure reliability, the accepted procedure

for fingerprint analysis is ACE-V, which
means analysis, comparison, evaluation and
verification.

 Fingerprints

collected at the crime

scene are matched or compared with
those belonging to the suspect or
with
those on file in police agencies.

Long ago, matching was done primarily

with the use of hand held glass magnifiers.
Later with the aid of microscope.

Comparing or Matching
Fingerprints

Related Cases
Pp.

vs. Jennings, 252 III. 534

(1911)

On the night of
September19, 1910, Clarence B.
Hiller, encountered an intruder in
his home and struggle ensued.
Both fell to the foot of the
stairway and Mr. Hiller was shot
twice. He died moments later.

Mrs. Hiller screamed and the

intruder fled. The outside veranda
had recently been painted and it was
here the imprint of four fingers of the
intruder left hand was found
embedded in the fresh paint.

At about 2:38 A.M. , Thomas

Jennings, was spotted by police and
was questioned as to what he was
doing out so late. They searched him
and discovered he was carrying a
loaded revolver. Later, the police
found out that Jennings had just
released on parole in August 1910
after serving a sentence for burglary.

His fingerprint card was on file

and was compared to the prints
lifted at the Hillers household.
Four fingerprints experts at
Jennings trial declared the
fingerprints from crime scene
were a conclusive match to
Jennings own fingerprints.

Based on this evidence, Jennings

was convicted of Murder on February
1, 1911. It was shortly after this
event that fingerprints science
spread to all major American cities
across nation.

Harry Jackson Case

On June 27, 1902, some broke

into a house in Denmark Hill, London
and stole some billiard balls. The
police noticed some fingerprints on a
newly painted windowsill and the
Fingerprint Bureau was called in.

 The

left thumb left as the best print

and it was photographed, then taken
to the Bureau and compared to
prints on file. A match was found and
it belonged to a 41 years old laborer
named Harry Jackson.

On September 13, 1902, Harry

Jackson was found guilty and
sentenced to 7 years in prison and
became the worlds first person to be
convicted based on fingerprint
evidence.

Fingerprint Database

Fingerprint Database
Automated Latent Print System (ALPS)
a database that searches latent prints for possible
matches
can locate and retrieve records of known prints

The Automated Fingerprint Information

System (AFIS)
can match a sample, either a ten-print set or a single
or partial print, by searching the database
the speed is up to 500,000 prints per second

Fingerprint Database

Fingerprint Database

Fingerprint Database

Reliability of Fingerprint Analysis

Reliability of Fingerprint Analysis

Fingerprints reliability is being questioned
the assumption that each person has unique
set of fingerprints has not been proven

However, even if this is unproven,

because of the difficulty, if not impossibility
the uniqueness stands supported by
sufficient data to remain a valid principle of
fingerprint analysis

Reliability of Fingerprint Analysis

Apart from uniqueness, immutability
principle supports fingerprint identification
the friction ridge patterns do not change
naturally, remains until death except when
mutilated by accident or skin disease
friction ridge patterns remain until body
decomposes
Firmly grounded on uniqueness and
immutability the reliability of fingerprints
analysis is assured as accurate means of
identification

Criticism Against
Fingerprint Identification

Criticism Against
Fingerprint Identification
fingerprints have been regarded as the
highest standard of forensic evidence
recently it has been shown that it is not
always infallible or 100% correct
increasing number of criminal cases, not
many though, revealing wrong fingerprint
identification of persons accused or
convicted
raised serious questions about the
certainty of fingerprint analysis

Criticism Against
Fingerprint Identification

The Case of
Brandon Mayfield

Criticism Against
Fingerprint Identification

Defending Fingerprint Analysis

Defending Fingerprint Analysis

The findings of finge

rprint analysis can a

lways be validated o

r confirmed by DNA

Defending Fingerprint Analysis

PERFORMANCE: fingerprint analysis solved ten
times more unknown cases than DNA
the assumption that each person has
unique fingerprints has not been proven till
now.
The principle of uniqueness is supported
by sufficient data to remain a valid principle
of fingerprint analysis
In 100 years of examination-no two
fingerprints have been found identical in
billions of human and computer
comparisons

SKP: New Fingerprint Technique

SKP: New Fingerprint Technique

Materials Research Centre of the University of Swansea, UK

Professor Neil McMurray

Dr. Geraint Williams

developed a technique that enables fingerprints to be visualized on

metallic and electrically conductive surfaces without developing the
prints initially

SKP: New Fingerprint Technique

scanning Kelvin Probe (SKP)
measure the voltage, or
electrical potential, over the
surface of an object on which a
fingerprint may have been
deposited
then mapped to produce an
image of the fingerprint
work effectively on a wide
range of forensically important
metal surfaces including iron,
steel and aluminum

SKP: New Fingerprint Technique

The application of the new SKP fingerprinting technique has the potential
to allow fingerprints to be retrieved while still leaving intact any material
that could subsequently be subjected to DNA analysis.