Fingerprinting, Essay Example

Introduction

Within the confines of Forensic Science, within criminal investigation scenes, the use of fingerprints provides a useful means of tracing a suspect to a crime scene and in some cases a potential murder weapon.  Although largely replaced by DNA analysis it still remains an important part of secondary analysis as each fingerprint is unique to an individual.  The science of dactylography is particularly powerful when comparisons can be made to a database containing prints of thousands of known criminals. (Morgan, E. 2005)

Process

In the early days the cross matching of finger prints was a long and time consuming process as this had to be accomplished manually looking at ridges and scales in the prints. The use of computers has now made this a much more expedient and robust process. (Oracle, 2011). Comparative analysis by computer is by scanning the print and then cross-matching by graphical images in a database. (Neate, E. 2011). There the three distinct types of fingerprints namely: 1) Patent Prints  2) Latent Prints and 3) Plastic Prints. Patent prints occur when the fingers come into contact with a smooth substance like glass.  The latent prints are impressions usually secreted to the surface and visible to the naked eye. Plastic Prints are those

Current Developments

An Australian Researcher has found a way of using Amino Acids to detect old dry and used fingerprints that cannot be detected by traditional powder methods.  This is a breakthrough in Forensic Science. The new technique enhances old and degraded fingerprints and provides a much clearer image. (Grubb, B. 2011). The diagram below shows biometric matching and how two prints are plotted to achieve a match.  Location and points are plotted from one print to the other for multiple correlations or matches. (Salil P. 2007)

Works Cited

Grubb, B. (2011, 6 9). Sydney leaves its mark in fingerprinting breakthrough. Retrieved 6 8, 2011, from Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/sydney-leaves-its-mark-in-fingerprinting-breakthrough-20110608-1fsz3.html?from=smh_sb

Morgan, E. (2005, 6 2). Fingerprinting in Forensic Science. Retrieved 6 9, 2011, from Ezine: http://ezinearticles.com/?Fingerprinting-in-Forensic-Science&id=410615

Neate, E. (2011). Neate Imaging Services. Retrieved 6 8, 2011, from Forensic Training: http://www.neateimaging.com/page46a.html

Salil Prabhakar, A. J. (2007, 1 2). Fingerprint Identification. Retrieved 6 8, 2011, from Biometrics: http://biometrics.cse.msu.edu/fingerprint.html