Fingerprinting

1. History of Fingerprinting

http://www.onin.com/fp/fphistory.html

Fingerprints were first found in Babylon where they were used to track business transactions. Then, in 14th century Persia a doctor was looking at all the fingerprints on various government documents and realized that no two fingerprints are the same. In 1686, Marcello Malpighi, a professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna, noted in his thesis; ridges, spirals and loops in fingerprints. However, he did not use this information to indentify criminals. Also in 1880, Dr. Henry Faulds published an article in a Scientific Journal in which he discussed fingerprints as a means of personal identification, and the use of printers ink as a method for obtaining such fingerprints. He was credited for lifting the first print off of an alcohol bottle. Juan Vucetich made the first criminal fingerprint identification in 1892. He caught a woman who killed her family and then slit her own throat to make it appear as someone else but Vucetich found her bloody print on a door post, placing her as the murderer.

2. Types of Fingerprints:

http://www.fingerprinting.com/types-of-fingerprints.php

1. Patent

Patent Prints - are visible prints that occur when a foreign substance on the skin of a finger comes in contact with the smooth surface of another object. These prints leave a distinct ridge impression that is visible with the naked eye without technological enhancement of any kind. The tried and true "blood on his hands" evidence is an example of patent prints recovered from a crime scene or scene of interest to investigators. These foreign substances contain dust particles which adhere to the ridges of the fingers and are easily identifiable when left on an object.
2. Latent
Latent Prints - are fingerprint impressions secreted in a surface or an object and are usually invisible to the naked eye. These can be created by the natural oils in your hand mixing with another surface. Although these are invisible to the naked eye, they can be lifted and magnified.
3. Plastic
Plastic Prints - are visible, impressed prints that occur when a finger touches a soft, malleable surface resulting in an indentation. These fingerprints usually have to be mixed with something such as wet paint, blood, or wax.

3. Basic Shapes/Patterns of Fingerprints

Plain Arch- Has a little arch that is not that pronounced.

Tented Arch-Has an exagerated arch that is very high and noticeable.

Ulnar Loop- Curves up from the left.

Radial Loop- Curves up from the right.

Plain Whorl- Has a circle in the center from which everything else comes from.

Central pocket Whorl- Starts with a circle that is off center. It is tighter than the plain whorl.

Double Loop Whorl- Has an "s" shape in the center froim which everything else transpires.

Accidental Whorl- A mixture of all the patterns. Has an attribute from almost every patter listed herein.

4. Procedures for Collecting/Lifting Prints

For dark surfaces:

Load a brush with fine bristles with toulk powder. Once the brush is loaded, lightly brush it over the print. Be careful not to brush too hard because it may smear the print. Once the print is loaded, carefully place a piece of tape over it. Carefully lift the tape. Place it on a dark piece of paper so that the toulk powder, and the print will show up.

For light surfaces, such as glass:

Load a brush with fine bristles with graphite powder. Once the brush is loaded, lightly brush it over the print. Be careful not to brush too hard because it may smear the print. Once the print is loaded, carefully place a piece of tape over it. Carefully lift the tape. Place it on a light piece of paper so that the graphite powder, and the print will show up.

Handwriting Analysis

1.History of Handwriting
http://www.britishgraphology.org/history.htm
At the beginning of the 19th century Edouard Hocquart and Abbé Flandrin developed the art of interpreting handwriting. However, it was not until the second half of the century, when Michon published the results of his many years of research into individual handwriting movements, which gained public interest. His theory gained popularity simply for its simplicity. He studied individual strokes and how they relate to the persons personality.
2. Inaccuracy in Handwriting Analysis: Why do forensic investigators have trouble using handwriting analysis techniques?
Forensic investigators have trouble using handwriting analysis techniques because people can disguise their handwriting and handwriting does not always correlate to the persons personality.
3. Techniques or Indicators scientists use to identify handwriting or forgeries: What do forensic scientist look for when analyzing handwriting?
Scientists look for things such as slants, curls, and the hieght of the lettering to analyze a suspect's handwriting. Also, they look for the spacing between the letters so that they can identify whose handwriting it is. These are specific to each persons personality and handwriting.
4. Pictures and analysis of your in-class handwriting forgery practice: Categorize and analyze (comment) your in-class handwriting work.

In class, we all made out a check with the same name signed. We then ripped up the check. We handed it to someone else in the class and they reassembled it. Once they reassmebled it, they tried to figure out whose handwriting it was by comparing it to the samples we had written earlier that week. They had to look for similarities such as slant and how far we spaced out our letters.Once we thought we had the right person, we compared. Most of us got it right but a few of them were wrong. This could be due to similar handwriting in the class or a lack of observation by the person who matched the checks up. This was a good excercise because not only were they analyzing our words, but also our numbers.

Hair and Fiber

1. History of:

• Hair Analysis- In December 1995 the Society of Hair Testing was founded to promote the research in hair testing technologies in forensic, clinical and occupational sciences, to develop the international proficiency tests, to organize meetings and workshops and to encourage the scientific cooperation and exchanges among members. Ever since then, hair analysis has evolved into a forensic science which helps prove a suspects guilt or innocence. It can be compared to the hair found at the crime. Hair can also tell much about the person who it came from. It leaves evidences of drugs for a number of years.
• Fiber Analysis- Fiber analysis has been used for many years. A known fiber can be compared under a microscope to the sample found at the crime scene. If it matches, it is likely that the suspect is guilty. There are many different types of fibers; Clothing, Cotton, String, Flax, Etc. These different types of fibers help provide tangible evidence to use in court.

2. Techniques Used to Identify:

• Hair- Hair can be looked at under a microscope to help see it better. Each persons hair has different qualities. For example, a human hair has a line down the middle, but an animal's hair is solid throughout. Color and thickness is also used to compare hair samples.
• Fiber- Fiber also can be look at under the microscope. Each fiber has their own components that help make them what they are. For example, the picture to the left shows an unknown fiber under a microscope. Because of the picture, we know that it is a type of rope that is twisted together.

3. Pictures and Analysis of Pictures From Lab

In lab, we looked at several different hair and fiber samples. We had a white male hair, black male hair, asian hair, color treated hair, dog hair, cat hair, and synthetic hair. We looked at each of them under a microscope. We were then asked to draw and describe what we saw. Then, we used the information we had gathered to figure out what the unknown sample was.

4. Guesses/Justifications of Lab Findings

My group decided that the unknown sample was a white male hair. We came to this consensus because both the white male hair and the unknown had a "road" going down the middle with about the same thickness.

Blood Typing

1. The Major Types of Blood

• A, B, AB, and O.
• Individuals with type A blood can receive blood from donors of type A and type O blood.
• Individuals with type B blood can receive blood from donors of type B and type O blood.
• Individuals with type AB blood can receive blood from donors of type A, type B, type AB, or type O blood.
• Individuals with type O blood can receive blood from donors of only type O.
• Individuals of type A, B, AB and O blood can receive blood from donors of type O blood.
• Type O- blood is called the universal donor.

2. What is Meant by Positive or Negative Blood Types?

The terms "positive" or "negative" refer to either the presence or absence of the RhD antigen irrespective of the presence or absence of the other antigens of the Rhesus system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type

3. Comments and Analysis on Lab Findings.

In our crime scene we had a sample of blood. We placed two drops on each side of a slide.

We then mixed anti-A and anti-B with each of them. Since no precipitate formed in either of

them, we were left to believe that the killer had an "O" bloodtype.

Final Blog

Today when we entered class, there was a crime scene set out with 7 pieces of evidence laid out for us to analyze. There had been a woman killed and we were trying to figure out who did it. We had a list of suspects which is what we compared our handwriting and fingerprints to. My group had an unknown fiber, 2 hair samples, handwriting, blood, footprint, and a fingerprint. We analyzed each and every one of these and we thought that the hair was a white males, the handwriting was Mr. Kelly's, the blood type was "O", the fingerprint was an ulnar loop, the shoe is medium sized, and the unknown fiber was flax.

What we think happened:

It was a nice, breezy summer day when disaster struck. Mike Kelly, a devoted family man, was placed at the scene of a murder. The evidence leads us to believe that Mike Kelly strangled Jane Doe with a piece of flax. After she was dead, he brutally stomped on her face and then walked away, unscathed. However, feeling way too confident, he left a not. This provided evidence that helped place him at the scene of the crime.