NCJ Number
132188
Journal
Journal of Forensic Identification Volume: 41 Issue: 2 Dated: (March/April 1991) Pages: 121-132
Date Published
1991
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the history of fingerprint identification in Great Britain and outlines the considerable research that has been conducted during the past 10 years into many aspects of fingerprinting.
Abstract
For many decades after fingerprint evidence was first given in an English murder trial in 1905, the fingerprint system varied little except to adjust its collection techniques to keep pace with the gently increasing demand made upon it. Occasional breakthroughs, such as developing marks with iodine fumes, silver nitrate, and ninhydrin, were added as they became available. Much of the research of the last decade focuses on one way a crime scene fingerprint can be made: as a latent or invisible impression which has been made visible by exploiting the nature of the mark itself and the substrate it is on. Research also has been conducted into collection handling techniques. Cases are cited to illustrate the involvement of fingerprints with police investigations.