Fingerprint composition and aging: A literature review

Cadd, Samuel; Islam, Meez; Manson, P. J.; Bleay, Stephen M.

doi:10.1016/j.scijus.2015.02.004

Cited by 214 publications

(186 citation statements)

References 102 publications

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“…The detection of latent fingerprints is practically a challenging analytical problem, where detection of very small quantities of specific chemical compounds is required (Cadd et al 2015). Consequently, the current study was conducted to evaluate the possibility of recovery of submerged latent fingerprints on non-porous surfaces using different techniques.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reduced quality of developed fingerprints with increasing the time elapsed since deposition may be explained in the light of the fact that; fingerprint composition changes through various chemical, biological and physical processes resulting in the aged composition (Cadd et al 2015). Initial compounds are lost through various processes including degradation, metabolism, migration, oxidation and polymerization.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of latent fingerprints on non-porous surfaces recovered from fresh and sea water

Madkour

Sheta

Dine

et al. 2017

Egypt J Forensic Sci

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BackgroundCriminal offenders have a fundamental goal not to leave any traces at the crime scene. Some may suppose that items recovered underwater will have no forensic value, therefore, they try to destroy the traces by throwing items in water. These traces are subjected to the destructive environmental effects. This can represent a challenge for forensic experts investigating fingerprints.MethodsThe present study was conducted to determine the optimal method for latent fingerprints development on dry non-porous surfaces submerged in aquatic environments at different time interval. The quality of the developed fingerprints depending on the used method was assessed. In addition, two factors were analyzed in this study; the effects of the nature of aquatic environment and the length of submerged time. Therefore, latent fingerprints were deposited on metallic, plastic and glass objects and submerged in fresh and sea water for 1, 2, and 10 days. After recovery, the items were processed by black powder, small particle reagent and cyanoacrylate fuming and the prints were examined. Each print was evaluated according to fingerprint quality assessment scale.ResultsCyanoacrylate developed latent prints found to have the highest mean visibility score after submersion in fresh and sea water for 1, 2 and 10 days. Mean visibility score of prints developed showed significant decline after 10 days of submersion. Prints submerged in fresh water showed significantly higher mean visibility score than those submerged in sea water using various methods of development and in all time intervals.ConclusionThe study demonstrated that it is possible to recover latent prints submerged in water on different studied dry non porous surfaces with the best visualization method using cyanoacrylate either in fresh or sea water. The duration of submersion affects the quality of fingerprints developed; the longer the duration, the worse the quality is. In addition, this study has revealed that the exposure to high salinity i.e. sea water has more damaging influence on the quality of detected fingerprints.It is concluded that any piece of evidence recovered from underwater should be tested for prints, no matter the amount of time spent beneath the surface.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of latent fingerprints on non-porous surfaces recovered from fresh and sea water

Madkour

Sheta

Dine

et al. 2017

Egypt J Forensic Sci

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“…Greater enhancement was achieved specifically on polystyrene substrates and also on older fingermarks where Cyanobloom‐Rhodamine 6G was underperforming. However, in both studies the number of donors was not high ; thus, no definitive conclusions can be drawn yet. Although, cyanoacrylate fuming is routinely used in police casework and thus it has the potential to be considered for a phase 4 IFRG study, the articles examined in this section will be ranked as phase 1 study mostly due to the lack of donors included in each study.…”

Section: Chemical Methodsmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Aluminum, zinc, copper, and brass were some of the surfaces examined, for some metals slight acidic solutions gave off the best development while others needed a more basic environment. However, the authors have used their own grading scale, with grade being somewhere between a grade 2 or 3 compared to the Home Office's grading system, with the ideal grade for an identification by the Home Office's standards being 3 or higher. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of this method was proven, since 10 different donors were utilized for this study and “older” fingermarks of 10 days old were successfully developed.…”

Section: Chemical Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of Fingermarks—Applicability to Metallic Surfaces: A Literature Review

Christofidis

Morrissey

Birkett

2018

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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There are many different fingermark visualization techniques available, and the choice of methodology employed may be dependent on the surface type. This comprehensive review of the scientific literature evaluates the methodologies of fingermark enhancement methods that are applicable to metallic surfaces; optical, physical, chemical, and physicochemical methods are critically discussed. Methods that are currently used and those that have the potential to reduce the cost and time required to process evidence and increase the recovery rates are considered and are assessed against the Centre for Applied Science and Technology (CAST) and the International Fingerprint Research Group (IFRG) guidelines. The use of chemical imaging techniques in particular has increased the potential to recover fingermarks of sufficient quality for identification purposes. Presently, there appears to be a lack of detailed research pertaining to validation and thorough casework studies for fingermark enhancement techniques. Further studies incorporating these guidelines are recommended.KEYWORDS: forensic science, fingermarks, fingerprints, enhancement techniques, metallic surfaces, latent fingermarks Fingermarks are considered one of the most valuable types of physical evidence recovered from a crime scene. Fingermark casework is still the most common casework for forensic scientists despite the increase in use of DNA (1) to identify/exonerate suspects via bodily fluids (2). The ridge patterns found in fingermarks are permanent and can be used to individualize or exclude suspects from an investigation.Detection of fingermarks on metallic surfaces will be dependent upon the compounds remaining from the fingermark residue. Several detailed reviews have already been published on fingermark composition, but none have focused on fingermarks deposited on metallic surfaces (3,4).Generally, there are two types of fingermarks found at crime scenes: visible fingermarks, usually formed by fingers contaminated by a substance such as oil, fruit, grease, paint or blood, which are deposited on a surface; and latent fingermarks, which are invisible to the naked eye and are the most abundant type of fingermarks at crime scenes. Metallic surfaces are also commonly encountered in crime scenes and are ubiquitous in the environment. Surfaces such as the door of a car, objects like handles, weapons, and tools are usually made of steel. Cartridge cases are frequently recovered from crime scenes and are usually made of brass or nickel (5). There are a number of different techniques that can be applied to a surface to visualize latent fingermarks. The selection of a suitable technique depends on different factors, such as the expected composition of a fingermark, the ability of the chosen technique to be used in tandem with other techniques, and the nature of the substrate. In this review, the focus will be on fingermarks deposited on metallic surfaces, and the optical, physical, chemical, and physicochemical visualization techniques that can be used ...

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“…The chemical composition of ngerprints has been investigated extensively, as comprehensively described by Girod et al and Cadd et al 2,3 The analysis of the chemical compounds, in particular amino acids, has been investigated several times in the near past. Croxton et al published the use of gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GCMS) for amino and fatty acids.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amino acid profiling from fingerprints, a novel methodology using UPLC-MS

et al. 2017

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Fingermark evidence is extensively used in criminal investigations. Hence, there have been many investigations into the chemical compounds present in fingerprint deposits. In this technical note we describe the analysis of non-derivatised amino acid profiles obtained from fingerprints. We used UPLC with an amide stationary phase and subsequent detection using a triple quadrupole MS/MS and TOF-MS detector. The linearity (R 2 ) was satisfactory for both MS detectors (>0.98 for all amino acids in the case of the triple quadrupole MS/MS and >0.96 in the case of the TOF-MS). Although the triple quadrupole had a higher sensitivity for most amino acids, both mass spectrometers were able to retrieve the amino acid profiles of fingerprints from 19 donors. Between these profiles, only minor differences were observed between the separate analyses on the different mass analyzers, mainly in L-proline, L-lysine and L-phenylalanine abundances. Surprisingly, the mean RSD in amino acid profiles from duplicate fingerprints turned out to be lower for the TOF-MS (18.6% AE 6.6% vs. 13.2% AE 3.8%), as did the mean RSD of the intraday reproducibility (8.22% AE 1.94% vs. 9.54% AE 3.07%).

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Fingerprint composition and aging: A literature review

Cited by 214 publications

References 102 publications

Development of latent fingerprints on non-porous surfaces recovered from fresh and sea water

Development of latent fingerprints on non-porous surfaces recovered from fresh and sea water

Detection of Fingermarks—Applicability to Metallic Surfaces: A Literature Review

Amino acid profiling from fingerprints, a novel methodology using UPLC-MS

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