Ridge Width Correlations between Inked Prints and Powdered Latent Fingerprints |
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Authors: | Josep De Alcaraz‐Fossoul PhD Carme Barrot‐Feixat PhD Sara C Zapico PhD Michelle Mancenido PhD Jennifer Broatch PhD Katherine A Roberts PhD Clara Carreras‐Marin MSc Jack Tasker BSc |
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Institution: | 1. School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, Glendale, AZ;2. Faculty of Medicine ‐ Legal Medicine Unit, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain;3. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and International Forensic Research Institute, Florida International University, Miami, FL;4. School of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics, California State University, Los Angeles, CA |
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Abstract: | A methodology to estimate the time of latent fingerprint deposition would be of great value to law enforcement and courts. It has been observed that ridge topography changes as latent prints age, including the widths of ridges that could be measured as a function of time. Crime suspects are commonly identified using fingerprint databases that contain reference inked tenprints (flat and rolled impressions). These can be of interest in aging studies as they provide baseline information relating to the original (nonaged) ridges’ widths. In practice, the age of latent fingerprints could be estimated following a comparison process between the evidentiary aged print and the corresponding reference inked print. The present article explores possible correlations between inked and fresh latent fingerprints deposited on different substrates and visualized with TiO2. The results indicate that the ridge width of flat inked prints is most similar to fresh latent fingerprints, and these should be used as the comparison standard for future aging studies. |
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Keywords: | forensic science tenprint ridge width titanium dioxide latent fingerprint aging |
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