Characterization of children's latent fingerprint residues by infrared microspectroscopy: Forensic implications

Children and guns: The detection of recent contact with firearms on children's hands by the PDT reagent

“…Palmar sweat dissolves iron oxide from the metallic parts of the object transferring it to the skin [21]. Thus, differences in the chemical composition of children's sweat in comparison with adults [29,30] can account for the high intensity of the iron marks developed on children's hands. The difference in the chemical composition of skin residues deposited by children from that of adults has been investigated as a part of a fingermarks visualization study [29].…”

“…Thus, differences in the chemical composition of children's sweat in comparison with adults [29,30] can account for the high intensity of the iron marks developed on children's hands. The difference in the chemical composition of skin residues deposited by children from that of adults has been investigated as a part of a fingermarks visualization study [29]. Three major classes of compounds: carboxylic acid salts, esters and secondary amides (protein particles) are found both in adult and in children's latent fingerprint deposits.…”

Fingermark initial composition and aging using Fourier transform infrared microscopy (μ-FTIR)

“…Other studies have also been carried out in order to study the changes occurring in fingermark composition over time. While GC/MS has often been used for this purpose [1][2][3][4]7,9,48], the use of advanced mass spectrometry techniques [12,14], liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC/MS) [49] and m-FTIR [36,41,43,45,46] have also been successful. Further details about these studies are summarised in a number of reviews [50][51][52].…”

“…However, the relative amounts secreted from these two classes of compounds varied significantly between donors [45,55]. Differences in fingermark composition between children and adults were also noted [37,41,43]; residue from children contained far more eccrine volatile compounds (e.g., carboxylic acid salts, amino acids and proteins) than lipid compounds. While one study proposed the development of a regression model allowing the estimation of the age of a person between 4 and 68 years old based on these composition differences [37], other research found no significant age trend for people aged from under 20 years old to more than 50 years old (no precise ages were mentioned) [45].…”

Deterring gun crime materially using forensic coatings

“…These can be imaged by a scanning Kelvin probe (SKP) [20] or mFTIR [21]. Specifically, colloidal gold nanoparticles adhering to fingerprint ridges can be used to enhance finger marks on low yield surfaces (such as cling film, vinyl-leather and masking tape surfaces [22]), while Cu and Au that have been sputtered as 25-30 nm thin films can be used to highlight latent fingermarks on metallic surfaces, including stainless steel [23].…”