Christophe Champod, Chris Lennard, Pierre Margot, and Milutin Stolilpovic (2016). Fingerprints and other Ridge Skin Impressions

Abstract

This second edition will likely reach the same degree of success as the first edition received. In this review, the term skin impression will be used to mean either an uncontrolled skin impression (fingermark) or a controlled skin impression (fingerprint) made by friction ridges on human skin such as those on fingers, palms, or feet. This book is written for those professionals involved in: the development (visualization) of impressions; the analysis of the visualized impressions to determine their suitability; the comparison of suitable visualized impressions with other suitable impressions such as those of known persons (suspects); and the decision process used in making conclusions about comparisons and identifications. The treatment on the detection and enhancement of fingerprints along with its two accompanying appendices make up over 40% of the book. Treated here are not only the traditional methods for visualizing latent impressions and methods for enhancing these when needed, but also methods that have recently been developed. The treatment starts with a presentation of the chemicals found on surface of a finger (particularly on the ridges), where they originate, how well these chemical transfer onto different types of surfaces it touches, and thus creating an impression of the finger on a surface (porous, non-porous, or semi-porous), how stable these chemicals are, and, most importantly, what chemical or physical methods can be used to visualize them. Many latent skin impressions that earlier methods could not easily make visible or fluorescent can now be made more perceptible with some of the newly developed visualization techniques. This portion of the book is most useful to a laboratory person involved in the processing of evidence for latent skin impressions.