Forensics – Unit 2 Review Sheet
Fingerprints
1. List the three types of fingerprints that could be found at a crime scene.
a. __________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________
c. __________________________________________________
2. Are fingerprints considered class or individual evidence? Why or why not?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Ridge characteristics can be found on what three areas of the body?
a. __________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________
c. __________________________________________________
4. What are the three main types of fingerprint patterns?
a. __________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________
c. __________________________________________________
5. Which pattern is the most common one found in the population? ___________________
6. Which pattern is the least common one found in the population? ___________________
7. True or False: Fingerprints change over time on an individual? ___________________
8. The Primary Henry Classification identifies the presence of ___________ patterns on fingers and each
finger is assigned a number based on the presence or absence of that pattern on that particular finger.
9. The Secondary Henry Classification is used to calculate the __________________ of a particular
fingerprint pattern on a finger in the population.
10. What type of classification is used to match an unknown print to a known print?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
11. What are minutiae? How are they used in fingerprint ID?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
12. Why is hair important evidence (hint: think about its structure).
__________________________________________________________________________________________
13. Is hair considered class or individual evidence? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
14. How can hair and fibers have probative value?
_________________________________________________________________________________________
15. Hair morphology (label the different parts of a hair):
i. Medulla
ii. Cortex
iii. Cuticle
16. Which part of the hair contains the pigment? ____________________________________
17. What protein is hair mainly composed of? ______________________________
18. What are some structural ways in which human hair differs from the hair of other mammals?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
19. Draw the cross sectional shapes of hair: Round, Oval, and Crescent.
20. Why would it be risky to assign race to a suspect based on this characteristic. ____________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
21. True or False: Medulla patterns vary among individuals and among hairs of an individual? _________
22. Three growth phases of hair are anagen, catagen, and telogen. At which phase would hair be least
likely to have a follicular tag (composed of skin and blood cells) if it was pulled out? Why would a
follicular tag be important for a crime investigation? ________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
23. How can hair be a chemical indicator or how can one get a false positive from a hair sample?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
24. What are the two main types of fibers – give examples of each.
a. __________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________
25. Are fibers considered class or individual evidence? Why or why not?
26. Synthetic fibers are made of _____________(long chains of repeating chemical units called monomers).
27. What are the two parts that make up the fabric? (smaller components)
a. __________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________
28. What is the warp and weft on a piece of fabric?
a. Warp-___________________________________________
b. Weft-__________________________________________
29. How is synthetic fiber made? ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
30. What are some ways that you would go about identifying fibers? a. _______________________,
b. _____________________, c. _______________________,d. ______________________________