Fingerprinting In A Crime Scene

One of the most important purposes of physical evidence is to establish the identity of a suspect or victim. Some of the most valuable clues at a crime scene are fingerprints. "Processing a crime scene" is a long, tedious process that involves focused documentation of the conditions at the scene and the collection of any physical evidence that could possibly shed light on what happened and point to who did it.

This caught my attention right away and hooked me in. Along with being a topic I was quite interested in (reference to last nonfiction book report), the first two sentences got me wondering. What could be told from a murdered person’s body? I already had a lot of background information from research and watching shows on mystery and homicide but this question led to a million answers. Some answers were cause of death, manner of death. time of death, weapon used, etc, all of which were related because this was sparked from the thought of a dead person and my ideas. From this, I read on to determine what could be told from an expert’s point of view.

For over a century fingerprints have been one of the most used tools of forensic science. Fingerprints have been used to identify criminals of small crimes

The use of fingerprinting as a means of identification was born out of the need of law enforcement officials to have permanent records that could determine if a convict had been previously arrested or imprisoned. Before the advent of fingerprinting, law enforcement used a number of different methods to try to accomplish this. Ancient civilizations would tattoo or physically maim prisoners. In more recent times, daguerreotyping (that is, photographing) was used, but proved to be less than reliable, because people had the ability to dramatically alter their appearance (Skopitz). As a result, this method too, became obsolete with the discovery of fingerprinting, an absolutely infallible

samples of an individual’s fingerprint’s can be lifted from a crime scene. The breakthrough of

Investigators can find clues from a murder through a number of different ways. Typically they find out how many times

That is a good question, one worth answering. Forensics is a scientific tool that has come to its own starting about the 80’s. Fingerprinting was one of the first techniques used to help in identifying the criminals that committed the heinous acts. Fingerprinting uses a brush and powder to enhance the ridge details on the fingertips adhering to the oils left behind. Another awesome way they have been able to pull prints off soft surfaces like bed sheets is by using superglue and heat. Fascinating isn’t it? Since then Forensics has become even more evolved. Fingerprints now go into a database known as AFIS or Automated Fingerprint Identification System, which has the prints of everyone

Fingerprints are one of the best forms of evidence at any scene, and burglaries may offer many opportunities for locating prints. The standard method of fingerprint a burglary scenes is with fingerprint kit. The fingerprint kit contains a soft brush, light and dark colored powders and a roll of clear tape. Once developed the fingerprints can be photographed and/or lifted with tape. The best advantages of fingerprints at crime scenes is the computerized fingerprint database. Crime scene prints can be searched in the computer, and can help locate suspects that may have been involved in the

After doing their job in he crime scene, the evidence they took will be taken to the forensic scientist. Crime scene investigators will look at the photographs and connect their theories based on the crime that occurred. The forensic scientists will also examine the victim’s clothes, while the medical examiner will analyze the victim’s body for more clues and evidence that they may find and they will all be doing this in the crime lab. The things they may find could be hair, fiber, semen, blood, another person’s DNA, bruises and many more. After the forensic scientists

Fingerprinting is used for many things, such as a robbery, or at a crime scene. Fingerprints were first discovered in 1870 by Alphonse Bertillon, who was a French anthropologist. In 1892, Juan Vucetich had made the first criminal report using a fingerprint. In 1905 America used fingerprints for identification. When America started using fingerprints for identification they had to match the fingerprints manually when needed. When technology was able to enter fingerprints, and match them with anonymous ones, it helped identification immensely.

Fingerprinting is one of the oldest forms of forensic science evidence that was discovered (James, Nordby, & Bell, 2014). The great science of fingerprints is that they are unique to each individual person and no one has the same print, not even twins. With the science of fingerprinting, the ability came to record them in a way that a record could be kept and assist in the crime scene process.

By the late 1800s there were two systems being used to identify criminals and fingerprints were collected as evidence in crimes. Alphonse Bertillon was an assistant clerk in the records office at the police station in Paris created a way to identify criminals. The system was sometimes called Bertillonage was first used in 1883 to identify a repeating offender. Once you’re in the system you’re in the system for life. Fingerprints are formed in the womb around 10 weeks of gestation. The secretions from your sweat glands which then leaves a small amount of oils and salts when the ridges are pressed against an object. The three types of fingerprint patterns are Arches, Whorls, and Loops. Finger prints are unique to an individual that now even identical

Every day, individuals touch countless objects and each time an object is touched an individual’s fingerprints are left behind. For more than one hundred years, fingerprint analysis has been used by law enforcement to identify suspects in order to solve crimes. One of the most important uses of fingerprint analysis is to assist investigators when they need to link two crime scenes to the same individual. Fingerprint analysis also assist investigators with obtaining an individual’s criminal record and any previous arrest they have had.

Today, more than ever, the quality of evidence in criminal cases is scrutinized because of contamination. Contamination is the introduction of something that physically corrupts a substance at a crime scene that was not previously there; it comes in many forms and most often times comes from the humans who investigate a crime scene. It is imperative that prevention of cross-contamination is implemented when gathering evidence. Several of the more sensitive forensic techniques such as trace analysis, bloodspatter interpretation, and DNA comparison are not being used to their fullest potential. Items of physical crime scene evidence are not always visible to the naked eye and may be easily overlooked so deliberate and methodical approach to collection and preservation of evidence is essential. Prosecutors have lost cases due to crime scene contamination; this could be prevented by simple and productive behaviors. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a leading case on physical evidence, stated:

Every time somebody touches something, they leave behind a unique signature that forever links them to that object. This link is their fingerprints, which are unique to every person, for no two people have the same set, not even family members or identical twins. Palms and toes also leave prints behind, but these are far less commonly found during crime scene investigations. Therefore, fingerprints provide an identification process that is applicable to background checks, biometric security, mass disaster identification, and most importantly, crime scene investigations. Fingerprints are so differentiated because they are made up of distinct patterns of ridges and furrows on the fingers. The ridges are the “raised” portions of the prints, and the furrows are the “recessed” portions. This perceived uniqueness has led some people to falsely accept fingerprint analysis as absolute scientific fact. Although overall fingerprints are reliable, there are definitely situations where their accuracy can come into question.