Fingerprint

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This article is about human fingerprints. See also Fingerprint (disambiguation).
The tip of a finger showing the friction ridge structure.
The tip of a finger showing the friction ridge structure.
The fingerprint created by that friction ridge structure.
The fingerprint created by that friction ridge structure.

A fingerprint is an impression of the friction ridges of all or any part of the finger.[1] A friction ridge is a raised portion of the epidermis on the palmar (palm and fingers) or plantar (sole and toes) skin, consisting of one or more connected ridge units of friction ridge skin.[1] These ridges are sometimes known as "dermal ridges" or "dermal papillae".

Fingerprints may be deposited in natural secretions from the eccrine glands present in friction ridge skin (secretions consisting primarily of water) or they may be made by ink or other contaminants transferred from the peaks of friction skin ridges to a relatively smooth surface such as a fingerprint card.[2] The term fingerprint normally refers to impressions transferred from the pad on the last joint of fingers and thumbs, though fingerprint cards also typically record portions of lower joint areas of the fingers (which are also used to make identifications).

Contents

Fingerprint identification

Fingerprint identification (sometimes referred to as dactyloscopy[3]) is the process of comparing questioned and known friction skin ridge impressions (see Minutiae) from fingers, palms, and toes to determine if the impressions are from the same finger (or palm, toe, etc.). The flexibility of friction ridge skin means that no two finger or palm prints are ever exactly alike (never identical in every detail), even two impressions recorded immediately after each other. Fingerprint identification (also referred to as individualization) occurs when an expert (or an expert computer system operating under threshold scoring rules) determines that two friction ridge impressions originated from the same finger or palm (or toe, sole) to the exclusion of all others.

Latent prints

Although the word latent means hidden or invisible, in modern usage for forensic science the term latent prints means any chance or accidental impression left by friction ridge skin on a surface, regardless of whether it is visible or invisible at the time of deposition. Electronic, chemical and physical processing techniques permit visualization of invisible latent print residue whether they are from natural secretions of the eccrine glands present on friction ridge skin (which produce palmar sweat, sebum, and various kinds of lipids), or whether the impression is in a contaminant such as motor oil, blood, paint, ink, etc.

Patent prints

These are friction ridge impressions of unknown origin which are obvious to the human eye and are caused by a transfer of foreign material on the finger, onto a surface. Because they are already visible they need no enhancement, and are generally photographed instead of being lifted in the same manner as latent prints.[1]

Plastic prints

A plastic print is a friction ridge impression from a finger or palm (or toe/foot) deposited in a material that retains the shape of the ridge detail.[4] Commonly encountered examples are melted candle wax, putty removed from the perimeter of window panes and thick grease deposits on car parts. Such prints are already visible and need no enhancement, but investigators must not overlook the potential that invisible latent prints deposited by accomplices may also be on such surfaces. After photographically recording such prints, attempts should be made to develop other non-plastic impressions deposited in natural finger/palm secretions (eccrine gland secretions) or contaminates.

Classifying fingerprints

Before computerization replaced manual filing systems in large fingerprint operations, manual fingerprint classification systems were used to categorize fingerprints based on general ridge formations (such as the presence or absence of circular patterns in various fingers), thus permitting filing and retrieval of paper records in large collections based on friction ridge patterns independent of name, birth date and other biographic data that persons may misrepresent. The most popular ten print classification systems include the Roscher system, the Vucetich system, and the Henry system. Of these systems, the Roscher system was developed in Germany and implemented in both Germany and Japan, the Vucetich system was developed in Argentina and implemented throughout South America, and the Henry system was developed in India and implemented in most English-speaking countries.[5].

In the Henry system of classification, there are three basic fingerprint patterns: Arch, Loop and Whorl.[6] There are also more complex classification systems that further break down patterns to plain arches or tented arches.[5] Loops may be radial or ulnar, depending on the side of the hand the tail points towards. Whorls also have sub-group classifications including plain whorls, accidental whorls, double loop whorls, and central pocket loop whorls.[5]

Timeline

There is no clear date at which fingerprinting was first used. However, significant modern dates documenting the use of fingerprints for positive identification are as follows:

  • 1823: Jan Evangelista Purkyně, a professor of anatomy at the University of Breslau, published his thesis discussing 9 fingerprint patterns, but he did not mention the use of fingerprints to identify persons.
  • 1880: Dr Henry Faulds published his first paper on the subject in the scientific journal Nature in 1880.[7] Returning to the UK in 1886, he offered the concept to the Metropolitan Police in London but it was dismissed.[8]
  • 1892: Sir Francis Galton published a detailed statistical model of fingerprint analysis and identification and encouraged its use in forensic science in his book Finger Prints.[9]
  • 1892: Juan Vucetich, an Argentine police officer who had been studying Galton pattern types for a year, made the first criminal fingerprint identification. He successfully proved Francisca Rojas guilty of murder after showing that the bloody fingerprint found at the crime scene was hers, and could only be hers.
  • 1897: World's first Fingerprint Bureau opens in Calcutta (now Kolkata) India after the Council of the Governor General approved a committee report (on 12 June 1897) that fingerprints should be used for classification of criminal records. Working in the Calcutta Anthropometric Bureau (before it became the Fingerprint Bureau) were Azizul Haque and Hem Chandra Bose. Haque and Bose are the Indian fingerprint experts credited with primary development of the fingerprint classification system eventually named after their supervisor, Sir Edward Richard Henry.[citation needed]
  • 1901: The first United Kingdom Fingerprint Bureau was founded in Scotland Yard. The Henry Classification System, devised by Sir Edward Richard Henry with the help of Haque and Bose, was accepted in England and Wales.
  • 1902: Dr. Henry P. DeForrest used fingerprinting in the New York Civil Service.

Reliability of fingerprinting as an identification method

A member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police demonstrates the location of ridge endings, bifurcations and dots.
A member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police demonstrates the location of ridge endings, bifurcations and dots.

Fingerprints collected at a crime scene, or on items of evidence from a crime, can be used in forensic science to identify suspects, victims and other persons who touched a surface. Fingerprint identification emerged as an important system within police agencies in the late 19th century, when it replaced anthropometric measurements as a more reliable method for identifying persons having a prior record, often under an alias name, in a criminal record repository.[3]

The science of fingerprint identification can assert its standing amongst forensic sciences for many reasons, including the following:

  • Has served all governments worldwide during the past 100 years to provide accurate identification of criminals. No two fingerprints have ever been found identical in many billions of human and automated computer comparisons. Fingerprints are the very basis for criminal history foundation at every police agency.[3]
  • Established the first forensic professional organization, the International Association for Identification (IAI), in 1915.[10]
  • Established the first professional certification program for forensic scientists, the IAI's Certified Latent Print Examiner program (in 1977), issuing certification to those meeting stringent criteria and revoking certification for serious errors such as erroneous identifications.[11]
  • Remains the most commonly used forensic evidence worldwide—in most jurisdictions fingerprint examination cases match or outnumber all other forensic examination casework combined.
  • Continues to expand as the premier method for identifying persons, with tens of thousands of persons added to fingerprint repositories daily in America alone—far outdistancing similar databases in growth.
  • Is claimed to outperform DNA and all other human identification systems to identify more murderers, rapists and other serious offenders (fingerprints are said to solve ten times more unknown suspect cases than DNA in most jurisdictions).
  • Fingerprint identification was the first forensic discipline (in 1977) to formally institute a professional certification program for individual experts, including a procedure for decertifying those making errors. Other forensic disciplines later followed suit in establishing certification programs whereby certification could be revoked for error.[11]

On the palmar surface of the hands and feet are raised surfaces called friction ridges. The scientific basis behind friction ridge analysis is the fact that friction ridges are persistent and unique. Friction ridges are formed during fetal development where their unique characteristics emerge due to genetic and epigenetic factors (maternal diet, pH, temperature, movement of the fetus, etc.). Even identical twins do not have the same fingerprints. Uniqueness among even identical twins is due to random, or stochastic, effects during fetal development. Stochastic effects have widespread scientific acceptance as a source of uniqueness and have been observed in several animal studies which included fingerprint and other unique traits (hair patterning) between both clones and nuclear transfers. Friction ridges also persist throughout life in their permanent arrangement barring scarring or injury or until decomposition of the skin following death. Scarring occurs due to damage to the basal layer of the epidermis. Like friction ridges, scars are also persistent throughout life and are re-generated in new layers of skin.

A known print is the intentional recording of the friction ridges, usually with black printer's ink rolled across a contrasting white background, typically a white card. Friction ridges can also be recorded digitally using a technique called Live-Scan. A latent print is the chance reproduction of the friction ridges deposited on the surface of an item. Latent prints are often fragmentary and may require chemical methods, powder, or alternative light sources in order to be visualized.

When friction ridges come in contact with a surface that is receptive to a print, material on the ridges, such as perspiration, oil, grease, ink, etc. can be transferred to the item. The factors which affect friction ridge impressions are numerous, thereby requiring examiners to undergo extensive and objective study in order to be trained to competency. Pliability of the skin, deposition pressure, slippage, the matrix, the surface, and the development medium are just some of the various factors which can cause a latent print to appear differently from the known recording of the same friction ridges. Indeed, the conditions of friction ridge deposition are unique and never duplicated. This is another reason as to why extensive and objective study is necessary in order to train examiners to be able to reach competent conclusions.

Fingerprint identification effects far more positive identifications of persons worldwide daily than any other human identification procedure. Some of the discontent over fingerprint evidence may be due to the desire to push the conclusiveness of fingerprint examinations to the same level of certitude as that of DNA analysis. DNA is probability-based inasmuch as an individual is genetically half from the mother's contribution and half from the father's contribution. These genetic contributions are passed down from generation to generation. While pattern type (arch, loops, and whorls) may be inherited, the details of the friction ridges are not. For example, it cannot be concluded that that a person inherited a certain bifurcation from their mother and an ending ridge from their father as the development of these features are completely random. Further, fingerprints as an analogy of uniqueness has been widely scientifically accepted. For example, chemists often use the term "fingerprint region" to describe an area of a chemical that can be used to identify it.

Another criticism sometimes levelled at fingerprint practice is that it is a "closed discipline". However, practitioners in the scientific community are generally specialized and may not extend to other areas of science; in this respect, fingerprint scientists are no different from the rest of the scientific community. The fingerprint community asserts that it maintains the need for objectivity and continued research in the area of friction ridge analysis.

Errors in fingerprint identification or processing

Below are cases of errors in fingerprint identification; however, some cases involved misfiling of fingerprints or suspect profiling which slanted interpretation, rather than faults by objective matches from fingerprint search technology.

William West

A story that some regard as apocryphal circulates about events occurring in the early 20th century when a man was spotted in the incoming prisoner line at the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas by a guard who recognized him and thought he was already in the prison population. Upon examination, the incoming prisoner claimed to be named Will West, while the existing prisoner was named William West. According to their Bertillon measurements, they were essentially indistinguishable. Only their fingerprints could readily identify them, and the Bertillon Method was discredited.

There is evidence that men named Will and William West were both imprisoned in the Federal Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, between 1903 and 1909. However, the details of the case are suspicious, especially since they differ between retellings, and the story did not appear in print until 1918. Today, people familiar with the story differ on whether the story was accurate, a case of people (possibly separated twins) who bore a striking resemblance, a case of known twins, or complete fiction. The story of Will West is mentioned on page 167 of Forensic Uses of Digital Imaging by John C. Russ, with mug shots of "the two Will Wests" on page 168.

It should be noted that the West case is not a case of fingerprint error, but an error in the method of anthropometry, which the fingerprint science replaced.

Brandon Mayfield and Madrid bombing

Error in identification (of a convert to Islam): Brandon Mayfield is an Oregon lawyer who was identified as a participant in the Madrid bombing based on a so-called fingerprint match by the FBI. [12] The FBI Latent Print Unit ran the print collected in Madrid and reported a match against one of 20 fingerprint candidates returned in a search response from their IAFIS—Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. The FBI initially called the match "100 percent positive" and an "absolutely incontrovertible match". The Spanish National Police examiners concluded the prints did not match Mayfield, and after two weeks identified another man who matched. The FBI acknowledged the error, and a judge released Mayfield after two weeks in May 2004.[12] In January of 2006, a U.S. Justice Department report was released which faulted the FBI for sloppy work but exonerated them of more serious allegations. The report found that misidentification was due to misapplication of methodology by the examiners involved: Mayfield is an American-born convert[12] to Islam and his wife is an Egyptian immigrant,[12] not factors that affect fingerprint search technology.

On 29 November 2006, the FBI agreed to pay Brandon Mayfield the sum of US$2 million.[12] The judicial settlement allows Mayfield to continue a suit regarding certain other government practices surrounding his arrest and detention. The formal apology stated that the FBI, which erroneously linked him to the 2004 Madrid bombing through a fingerprinting mistake, had taken steps to "ensure that what happened to Mr. Mayfield and the Mayfield family does not happen again." [12]

New York State Police Troop C scandal

Forged fingerprint evidence. In the New York State Police Troop C scandal in April of 1993, Craig D. Harvey, a New York State Police trooper was charged with fabricating evidence. Harvey admitted he and another trooper lifted fingerprints from items the suspect, John Spencer, touched while in Troop C headquarters during booking. He attached the fingerprints to evidence cards and later claimed that he had pulled the fingerprints from the scene of the murder. The forged evidence was used during trial and John Spencer was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. Another fabrication involved the 1989 murders of the Harris family of Dryden, New York. In their home, Warren and Dolores Harris, their daughter, Shelby, 15, and their son, Marc, 11, were bound and blindfolded, Shelby was raped and sodomized, all four were shot in the head and the house was doused with gasoline and set afire. State police investigators say that evidence led them to Michael Kinge, and that officers killed him when he pointed a shotgun at them during the arrest. His mother, Shirley Kinge, admitted to using a credit card stolen from the Harris home. Officers David L. Harding and Robert M. Lishansky, of Troop C, admitted they took fingerprints of Ms. Kinge from her work place and claimed to have found them on gasoline cans found at the Harris home. She was convicted of burglary and arson and sentenced to 17 to 44 years in prison. She served two and a half years before it was revealed that she had been framed by the police. Her conviction was later overturned.[13]

René Ramón Sánchez

Error in "Clerical" processing. René Ramón Sánchez, a legal Dominican Republic immigrant was booked on a DUI charge on July 15, 1995. He had his fingerprints affixed on a card containing the name, Social Security number and other data for Leo Rosario, who was being processed at the same time. Leo Rosario was arrested for selling cocaine to an undercover police officer. In August of 1998, Sanchez was stopped again by police officers, for DUI in Manhattan. René was then identified as Leo Rosario on October 11, 2000, while returning from a visit to relatives in the Dominican Republic. He was arrested at Kennedy International Airport. Even though he did not match the physical description of Rosario, the fingerprints were considered more reliable.[14]

Shirley McKie

Error in identification. Shirley McKie was a police detective in 1997 when she was accused of leaving her thumb print inside a house in Kilmarnock, Scotland where Marion Ross had been murdered. Although detective constable McKie denied having been inside the house, she was arrested in a dawn raid the following year and charged with perjury. The only evidence was the thumb print allegedly found at the murder scene. Two American experts testified on her behalf at her trial in May 1999 and she was found not guilty. The Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) would not admit any error, but Scottish first minister Jack McConnell later said there had been an "honest mistake".

On February 7, 2006, McKie was awarded £750,000 in compensation from the Scottish Executive and the SCRO.[1] Controversy continues to surround the McKie case with calls for the resignations of Scottish ministers and for either a public or a judicial inquiry into the matter.[2]

Stephan Cowans

Error in identification. Stephan Cowans was convicted of attempted murder in 1997 after he was accused of the shooting of a police officer while fleeing a robbery in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was implicated in the crime by the testimony of two witnesses, one of which was the victim. The other evidence was a fingerprint on a glass mug that the assailant drank water from, and experts testified that the fingerprint belonged to him. He was found guilty and sent to prison with a sentence of 35 years. While in prison he earned money cleaning up biohazards to accrue enough money to have the evidence tested for DNA. The DNA did not match his, he had already served six years in prison before he was released.

Footprints

Friction ridge skin present on the soles of the feet and toes (plantar surfaces) is as unique as ridge detail on the fingers and palms (palmar surfaces). When recovered at crime scenes or on items of evidence, sole and toe impressions are used in the same manner as finger and palm prints to effect identifications. Footprint (toe and sole friction ridge skin) evidence has been admitted in U.S. courts since 1934 (People v. Les, 267 Michigan 648, 255 NW 407).

Footprints of infants, along with thumb or index finger prints of mothers, are still commonly recorded in hospitals to assist in verifying the identity of infants. Often, the only identifiable ridge detail in such impressions is from the large toe or adjacent to the large toe, due to the difficulty of recording such fine detail. When legible ridge detail is lacking, DNA is normally effective (except in instances of chimaerism) for indirectly identifying infants by confirming maternity and paternity of an infant's parents.

It is not uncommon for military records of flight personnel to include bare foot inked impressions. Friction ridge skin protected inside flight boots tends to survive the trauma of a plane crash (and accompanying fire) better than fingers. Even though the U.S. Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) stores refrigerated DNA samples from all current active duty and reserve personnel, almost all casualty identifications are effected using fingerprints from military ID card records (live scan fingerprints are recorded at the time such cards are issued). When friction ridge skin is not available from deceased military personnel, DNA and dental records are used to confirm identity.

U.S. fingerprint databases & compression

The FBI manages a fingerprint identification system and database called IAFIS, which currently holds the fingerprints and criminal records of over fifty-one million criminal record subjects, and over 1.5 million civil (non-criminal) fingerprint records. U.S. Visit currently holds a repository of over 50 million persons, primarily in the form of two-finger records (by 2008, U.S. Visit is transforming to a system recording FBI-standard tenprint records).

Most American law enforcement agencies use Wavelet Scalar Quantization (WSQ), a wavelet-based system for efficient storage of compressed fingerprint images at 500 pixels per inch (ppi). WSQ was developed by the FBI, the Los Alamos National Lab, and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). For fingerprints recorded at 1000 ppi spatial resolution, law enforcement (including the FBI) uses JPEG 2000 instead of WSQ.

Fingerprinting of children

Further information: Biometrics in schools

Various schools have implemented fingerprint locks or registered children's fingerprints. This happened in the United Kingdom (fingerprint lock in the Holland Park School in London [15], databases, etc.) [16], in Belgium (école Marie-José in Liège [17][18]), in France, in Italy, etc. The NGO Privacy International has alerted that tens of thousands of UK school children were being fingerprinted by schools, often without the knowledge or consent of their parents [19]. In 2002, the supplier Micro Librarian Systems, which use a technology similar to US prisons and German military, estimated that 350 schools through-out Britain were using such systems, to replace library cards [19]. In 2007, it is estimated that 3 500 schools (ten times more) are using such systems [20]. Under the Data Protection Act (DPA), schools in the UK do not have to ask parental consent for such practices. Parents opposed to such practices may only bring individual complaints against schools [21].

The alleged use of taking children's fingerprints is to struggle against school skipping or/and to replace library cards or money for meals by fingerprint locks. In Belgium, this practice gave rise to a question in Parliament on February 6, 2007 by Michel de La Motte (Humanist Democratic Centre) to the Education Minister Marie Arena, who replied that they were legal insofar as the school did not use them for external purposes nor to survey the private life of children [22]. Such practices have also been used in France (Angers, Carqueiranne college in the Var — the latter won the Big Brother Award of 2005, etc.) although the CNIL, official organism in charge of protection of privacy, has declared them "disproportionate." [23].

In March 2007, the British government was considering fingerprinting of children aged 11 to 15 as part of new passport and ID card (the latter having been recently implemented in the UK), also lifting opposition for privacy concerns. All fingerprints taken would be cross-checked against prints from 900,000 unsolved crimes. Shadow Home secretary David Davis called the plan "sinister." [20]

The Ottawa Police in Canada advised parents who fear that their children may be kidnapped to have them taken their fingerprints [24]

Fingerprint locks and other applications

In the 2000s, electronic fingerprint readers have been introduced for security applications such as identification of computer users (log-in authentication). However, early devices have been discovered to be vulnerable to quite simple methods of deception, such as fake fingerprints cast in gels. In 2006, fingerprint sensors gained popularity in the notebook PC market. Built-in sensors in ThinkPads, VAIO laptops, and others also double as motion detectors for document scrolling, like the scroll wheel.

Another recent use of fingerprints in a day-to-day setting has been the increasing reliance on biometrics in schools where fingerprints and, to a lesser extent, iris scans are used to validate electronic registration, cashless catering, and library access. This practice is particularly widespread in the UK, where more than 3500 schools currently use such technology, though it is also starting to be adopted in some states in the US.

Fingerprints in other species

The Koala is one of the few mammals (other than primates) that has fingerprints. In fact, koala fingerprints are remarkably similar to human fingerprints; even with an electron microscope, it can be quite difficult to distinguish between the two.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Peer Reviewed Glossary of the Scientific Working Group on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology (SWGFAST)
  2. ^ Olsen, Robert D., Sr. (1972) “The Chemical Composition of Palmar Sweat” Fingerprint and Identification Magazine Vol 53(10)
  3. ^ a b c Ashbaugh, David R. (1991) "Ridgeology". Journal of Forensic Identification Vol 41 (1) ISSN: 0895-l 73X
  4. ^ Johnson, P. Lee (1973) "Life of Latents" Identification News Vol 23(1)
  5. ^ a b c Engert, Gerald J. (1964) "International Corner" Identification News Vol 14(1)
  6. ^ Henry, Edward R., Sir (1900) Classification and Uses of Finger Prints London: George Rutledge & Sons, Ltd.
  7. ^ Faulds, Henry, MD (1880)Nature
  8. ^ Reid, Donald L. (2003) "Dr. Henry Faulds - Beith Commemorative Society" Journal of Forensic Identification Vol53(2)
  9. ^ Galton, Francis, MD, Sir (1892) Finger Prints London: MacMillan and Co.
  10. ^ International Association for Identification History, retrieved Aug 2006
  11. ^ a b Bonebrake, George J. (1978) "Report on the Latent Print Certification Program" Identification News Vol28(3)
  12. ^ a b c d e f "U.S. Will Pay $2 Million to Lawyer Wrongly Jailed - New York Times" (article), by Eric Lichtbau, New York Times, 2006-11-30, webpage: NYT-061130-settle: on Brandon Mayfield mistaken arrest.
  13. ^ New York Times; February 4, 1997; "Supervision of Troopers Faulted In Evidence-Tampering Scandal. Concluding a four-year investigation into the worst scandal in state police history, a special prosecutor said today that troopers were able to plant evidence routinely in criminal cases across a broad swath of rural New York because they had no fear of detection by supervisors, who maintained a willful ...
  14. ^ New York Times; May 31, 2004; Can Prints Lie? Yes, Man Finds To His Dismay. In front of the immigration judge, the tall, muscular man began to weep. No, he had patiently tried to explain, he was not Leo Rosario, a drug dealer and a prime candidate for deportation. He was telling the truth. He was René Ramón Sánchez, an auto-body worker and merengue singer ...
  15. ^ Empreintes digitales pour les enfants d'une école de Londres (French)
  16. ^ Leave Them Kids Alone (English)
  17. ^ Empreintes digitales pour sécuriser l'école ? (French)
  18. ^ Le lecteur d'empreintes dans les écoles crée la polémique, 7 Sur 7, February 5, 2007 (French)
  19. ^ a b Fingerprinting of UK school kids causes outcry, The Register, July 22, 2002 (English)
  20. ^ a b Child fingerprint plan considered, BBC, March 4, 2007 (English)
  21. ^ Schools can fingerprint children without parental consent, The Register, September 7, 2006 (English)
  22. ^ Prises d'empreintes digitales dans un établissement scolaire, Question d'actualité à la Ministre-Présidente en charge de l'Enseignement obligatoire et de Promotion sociale (French)
  23. ^ Quand la biométrie s'installe dans les cantines au nez et à la barbe de la Cnil, Zdnet, September 9, 2003 (French)
  24. ^ Child Print (Ottawa Police Service) (English)/(French)
  25. ^ Henneberg, Maciej; Lambert, Kosette M., Leigh, Chris M. (1997). "Fingerprint homoplasy: koalas and humans". naturalSCIENCE.com 1. 

External links