Chapter 4: Fingerprints Notes
Name:___________________________
Fundamental Principles of Fingerprints:
 A fingerprint is an __________________________________________.
 A fingerprint _______________________________________________during an individual’s
lifetime.
 Fingerprints have _________________________________ that allow them to be
classified and entered into a national database.
Interesting Info
 _________ of people have loops, _________ have whorls, and _________ have arches
 ___________________________ is the study of fingerprint identification
Ridge Characteristics
 Minutiae: ____________________________________________.
Fingerprint Types
 Arch: An arch has ridges that enter on one side of the print and exit on the
other. No deltas are present.
Types:
o
o
 Loop: A loop must have one or more ridges entering and exiting from the
same side.
o
o
 Whorl: Whorls have at least two deltas and a core.
o
o
o
o
Chapter 4: Fingerprints Notes
Name:___________________________
Fingerprint Comparison
 There are at least _________________________________________ on the average
fingerprint.
 ______________________________ that match exactly are required by most criminal
courts as a positive ID.
AFIS: _______________________________________________________
3 Kinds of Crime Scene Fingerprints:
 Visible Prints: which are ________________________________________________________
such as blood, paint, grease, or ink.

Plastic Prints: which _____________________________________________________________
such as putty, wax, soap, or dust.
 Latent Prints: which are ___________________________________________________________
_________________________________________. Perspiration contains water, salt, amino
acids, or oils and easily allows impressions to be made
Developing Latent Prints
 _______________________—reacts with amino acids to produce a purple color.
 _______________________—reacts with chloride to form silver chloride, a
material which turns gray when exposed to light.
 _______________________—“super glue” fumes react with water and other
fingerprint excretions to form a hard, whitish deposit.
Primary Classification



_______________________________________: Each finger is given a point value
First step in classifying a set of fingerprints is to identify the presence of
any ________________________ patterns.
Assign the ________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Other types of prints
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