NCJ Number
191244
Journal
Journal of Forensic Identification Volume: 51 Issue: 5 Dated: September/October 2001 Pages: 472-478
Date Published
2001
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article describes a computer-produced overlay procedure for comparing the slap marks on the face of a 6-year-old boy with the handprints of each person who had access to the child during the time period in which the slap mark was made.
Abstract
A local school teacher, noticing that a 6-year-old student came to school with an apparent slap mark on the left side of the face, contacted Child Protective Services. A representative of Child Protective Services and a local police detective interviewed the family and asked how the boy received the injury. The father of the child stated that the boy and his 8-year-old sister got into a fight, and his sister slapped him. Believing that the slap mark appeared to be too large for the father's account to be true, the father was accused of the abuse, and Child Protective Services removed the 8-year-old and a younger 3-year-old from their parents' custody. After being contacted by the police detective, the author asked that handprints (both hands) be made of each individual who had contact with the victim during the time period of the injury; this included the father, mother, grandmother, and the 8-year-old sister. Using the technique used for computer-based production of bitemark overlays as described by Sweet et al., the author made celluloid overlays of the handprints of each of the aforementioned individuals. Using the computer software Adobe Photoshop along with an ABFO #2 scale to maintain accuracy of a one-to-one relationship, outlines were obtained for each handprint. These were printed on clear celluloid and then placed over the handprint. Although it was not possible to individualize the slap mark to a particular handprint, certain handprints could be excluded on the basis of size. In the author's opinion, the father, mother, or grandmother could not have made the slap mark. He concluded that either the slap mark was made by the victim's 8-year-old sister or a person with a similar hand size. 5 figures