History of Personal Identification Methods Quiz

Forensic Science and Fingerprint Analysis

• Fingerprint individualization involves identifying central core patterns and examining ridge details for individual characteristics.
• Criticisms of ACE-V include lack of standards in the number of required points of comparison and potential bias in the examination process.
• Challenges in fingerprint analysis arise from smudged, partial, and distorted prints.
• The Mayfield case review by the FBI's Office of the Inspector General is a significant source for the study of fingerprint evidence.
• The admissibility of fingerprint evidence is questioned due to reliability concerns and its cost to the justice system.
• Developing latent prints involves physical methods such as powder dusting and chemical methods like iodine fuming and super glue fuming.
• Different techniques are used for developing palm and sole prints, which have friction ridge patterns similar to fingerprints.
• Palm print terminology includes palmar, thenar, hypothenar, and carpal delta zones.
• Foot print terminology includes calcar, ball pattern, plantar pattern, and tread zones.
• Lip prints are individual, and other miscellaneous patterns such as ear tattoos and fingernail striation patterns may also be individual.
• The study of lip prints, ear tattoos, and fingernail striation patterns contributes to the broader scope of forensic analysis.
• The text provides valuable information on various forensic science techniques and their applications in criminalistics.

Fingerprint Identification and Forensic Science

• Admissibility of fingerprint evidence in U.S. court in 1910, People v Jennings
• FBI establishes its fingerprint database in 1924
• Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) introduced in 1999
• Fingerprint individuality established by Galton, with 64 billion possible fingerprint variations
• Ridge characteristics used for fingerprint differentiation, with 10 to 16 comparisons typically required
• Fingerprint permanence throughout an individual's lifetime due to friction skin ridges
• Fingerprint formation related to skin layers, pores, and scarring effects
• Classification of fingerprints into loops, whorls, and arches, forming the basis for identification systems
• Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) uses digital minutiae for identification
• Crime scene prints can be patent (visible) or latent (invisible), requiring development methods
• Various types of crime scene prints, including plastic prints and latent prints
• Fingerprint residue composition and processing methods for crime scenes

Test your knowledge of the history of personal identification methods, including the development of anthropometry by Alphonse Bertillon, the ancient use of fingerprinting in China, and the proposal of a fingerprint system for identifying prisoners by Sir William Herschel in India.