Lesson 13 - Ethical Issues and Human Factors

Chiroscopy

Proper descriptor for the study of palms

Pelmatoscopy

Study of the soles of the feet

Lophoscopy

“Ridge pattern analysis”

• Dulling of the sweat-grease deposit

• Loss of stickiness

• Narrowing of the fingerprint ridges

• Loss of continuity along the fingerprint ridges

The aging process involves the drying out of the latent mark, resulting in (4):

Angst, 1961

Who proposed a technique for determining the age of latent fingermarks on paper using silver nitrate to evaluate the diffusion of the chloride component of the fingermark through the paper support? In what year?

• Temperature

• Humidity

• Precipitation

• Dust levels

• Atmospheric pollution

The lifetime of a latent mark depends on many factors, including (5):

Smooth, plain, and easily accessible surfaces

Most forged marks are found on what kinds of surfaces?

True

True or False: Forgeries are almost always present as a single, clean mark.

Fingerprint examiners, processes, and results/products

What three main areas need to be considered in quality assurance?

Observational and technical

Initial recruitment should be based on two important skills:

Forged

A _____ latent is the print of an innocent person “planted” at the scene of a crime by the perpetrator in an attempt to throw attention away from himself and implicate the innocent person.

Fabricated

A _____ latent is one manufactured or misrepresented by a person involved in the investigation in order to enhance the case against a suspect.

• Cast made from a mold of the person’s finger

• A metal plate etched from a photograph of a fingerprint

• Lifting and re-deposition of fingerprint residue using some kind of transfer medium (e.g., tape)

What are the three basic procedures used to forge latent prints?

• Police officers who believe they have the right person and lack the physical evidence to get a conviction or who wants the reputation of “always getting his man”

• Civilian technicians who crave acceptance by police officers

What are the two general categories of latent print fabricators and what are their motives?

• Mislabeled lifts

• Lifts fabricated from inked prints

What are the two main methods used to fabricate latents?

• The shape or position of the impression or the background artifacts may be inconsistent with the object the latent supposedly came from

• If the mislabeled print is submitted with a number of other lifts, it may be made with different tape, be placed on a different card, or be dusted with a different type of powder than the rest of the lifts. The writing instrument or handwriting may also be different.

What are some indications that a lift has been mislabeled (2)?

• Impression is fully rolled or contains second joint information that is inconsistent with normal handling of the object

• Lift may contain artifacts from the fingerprint card including lines, printing, and fibers or fiber marks.

• The impression looks “too good to be true”

What are some indications that a lift has been fabricated from inked prints (3)?

True

True or False: Latent prints should be photographed in place after being dusted and prior to lifting.

Punjab, India, 1903

Where did the first documented forgery case occur and in what year did it take place?

• Shape of the impression

• Scale

• Continuity of ridges

• Inconsistent smearing

• Background noise

• Well-defined impression edges

• Absence of adjacent impressions or regions of the skin when simultaneity should be expected

• Processing technique

Atypical distortion factors observed in forged impressions include (8):