NCJ Number
218755
Date Published
April 2002
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This study examined the effectiveness of lysochrome reagents in developing recent and older latent lip prints made with long-last lipstick on porous surfaces.
Abstract
Results revealed that the quality of the development for the powders and reagents used in the analysis depended on two factors: (1) the surface type; and (2) the age of the latent lip print. Lysochromes applied as a powder and in solution produced high quality development of lip prints up to 20 days old. The effectiveness of the development was observed to diminish with the age of the print. On white cotton fabric, the lysochromes produced good quality development of latent lip prints up to 40 days old, with development quality diminishing with age. Lysochromes applied as either a powder or in solution were effective on both types of porous surfaces tested. Thus, the lysochromes appeared superior to conventional powders and reagents in the development of older lip prints. The most effective lysochrome reagent was Sudan black, followed by Oil Red O and Sudan III. The research methodology involved testing three types of lysochromes (Sudan III, Oil Red O, and Sudan black) on the development of latent lip prints ranging from between 1 to 40 days old. The study also compared the effectiveness of the three types of lysochromes against fingerprint red (Dragon’s Red), black, and silver metallic powders as well as to ninhydrin. Lipstick was applied to 10 volunteers and after waiting 5 minutes for the lipstick to fix, lip impression were made on tissue paper and white cotton fabric using sustained pressure for 3 seconds. The samples were then exposed to ambient conditions before testing. Sample and reagent preparation is also described. Figures, references