The Friction Ridge Skin of the Feet

Commonwealth v. Bartolini (1938)

The first use of friction ridge footprint evidence in the U.S.

The defendant had been identified as the person who left a bare footprint on the floor of a homicide scene. The defense challenged the use of footprints citing that the expert in the case may have been familiar with fingerprints but was not qualified to give testimony on footprints. The court affirmed the conviction of the defendant stating that the expert in the case had sufficient knowledge of footprints and that there was “ample evidence that footprints, like fingerprints, remain constant throughout life and furnish an adequate and reliable means of identification.”

HMA v. William Gourley (1952)

The first use of toe prints in the UK

A bakery was broken into, and several footwear impressions and two impressions of the left foot were recovered. The lock on the safe had been blown and a pry bar was used to open the safe. The two impressions recovered from the safe contained sufficient detail of what appeared to be the left big toe. The defendant was arrested, exemplars of his feet and toe prints were taken, and he was identified to the toe print that was recovered from the safe. The defense challenged the identification saying that the witness did not have enough experience to testify on toe prints. This was the first case in the UK where a toe print was the sole evidence against the suspect. The jury found the defendant guilty within 15 minutes, and he was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

6-18

The development of the foot, the friction ridges, and the creases takes place over an estimated gestational age of __-__ weeks. 

1-2

The sequence of events in the foot is very similar to that of the palms and fingers; however, the timing of events in the feet is delayed by about __-__ weeks

6, 13

Between __ and __ weeks of gestation, the feet will develop from flat paddlelike structures to something that resembles an infant’s foot.

7

Although at 6 weeks there are interdigital notches in the hands, they do not form in the feet till about __ weeks.

8

At about __ weeks, the toe rays have formed, and the heel is raised

9

At __ weeks of gestation, the thenar, hypothenar, and interdigital pads are formed and one of the primary creases, the metatarsophalangeal creases, is visible.

11, 13

At __ weeks of gestation, the pads have begun to regress, and by __ weeks, the pad regression is all but complete on both the hands and the feet.

20

Most of the primary creases have formed, but there is still some development of creases up until __ weeks of gestation.

Hallucal

What is the major pattern area of the foot?

At the distal thenar and first interdigital area

Where is the hallucal area located on the foot?

Horizontal

Most feet exhibit _____ flowing ridges in the distal/proximal hypothenar.

Distal loop

The _____ _____ near the IV interdigital area is the most common pattern.

Thenar rudiment

A wedge-shaped ridge flow pattern that is commonly found where the arch of the foot ends and the heel begins

Calcar

What is the technical term for the heel area of the foot?

1

The calcar area bears patterns in approximately __% of cases.

Arches, whorls

In toes, _____ are far more common, and _____ are less common.

5

In toes, loops only occur about __% less than they do in the fingers.

Smaller

Toe patterns tend to have (smaller/larger) ridge counts than the fingers.

People v. Iavaroni

An infant found in the possession of the defendant was identified as Lisa Rose Chioncho. She had been kidnapped from the nursery of St. Peter’s Hospital. The hospital had taken impressions of Lisa Rose’s footprints at birth, but due to the lack of training of the hospital staff, the impressions did not contain any legible ridge detail. When Lisa Rose was found 9 days after the kidnapping, the examiners in the case, Detectives Mandella and Fusci, were able to identify the girl based on the flexion creases alone.

Crease

Primary _____ formation is more closely related to the volar pads than to the movement of the hand and foot.

11.5

Spontaneous movement does not occur in the hands and feet until ___ weeks and some of the major primary creases have already formed by this time.

0, 90, 15

There are anywhere from __ to __ creases in the weight-bearing area of the feet, with an average of __ creases per foot.

Physiology, embryology, size, shape, placement

It is the combination of the differences in _____ and _____ of the foot and volar pad _____, _____, and _____ on the foot that leads to some stark differences between the ridge flow and crease patterns on the plantar surface and that of the fingers and palms.