Fingerprints

anatomy
Written by

J. Edgar Hoover
Fact-checked by

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica

Last Updated: Apr 14, 2023 •

fingerprint patterns

Fingerprint, impression made by the papillary ridges on the ends of the fingers
and thumbs. Fingerprints afford an infallible means of personal identification, because
the ridge arrangement on every finger of every human being is unique and does not
alter with growth or age. Fingerprints serve to reveal an individual’s true identity despite
personal denial, assumed names, or changes in personal appearance resulting from
age, disease, plastic surgery, or accident. The practice of utilizing fingerprints as a
means of identification, referred to as dactyloscopy, is an indispensable aid to modern
law enforcement.

Each ridge of the epidermis (outer skin) is dotted with sweat pores for its entire length
and is anchored to the dermis (inner skin) by a double row of peg-like protuberances, or
papillae. Injuries such as superficial burns, abrasions, or cuts do not affect the ridge
structure or alter the dermal papillae, and the original pattern is duplicated in any new
skin that grows. An injury that destroys the dermal papillae, however, will permanently
obliterate the ridges.
Fingerprint
Any ridged area of the hand or foot may be used as identification. However, finger
impressions are preferred to those from other parts of the body because they can be
taken with a minimum of time and effort, and the ridges in such impressions form
patterns (distinctive outlines or shapes) that can be readily sorted into groups for ease
in filing.

Early anatomists described the ridges of the fingers, but interest in modern fingerprint
identification dates from 1880, when the British scientific journal Nature published letters
by the Englishmen Henry Faulds and William James Herschel describing the
uniqueness and permanence of fingerprints. Their observations were
experimentally verified by the English scientist Sir Francis Galton, who suggested the
first elementary system for classifying fingerprints based on grouping the patterns into
arches, loops, and whorls. Galton’s system served as the basis for the fingerprint
classification systems developed by Sir Edward R. Henry, who later became chief
commissioner of the London metropolitan police, and by Juan Vucetich of Argentina.
The Galton-Henry system of fingerprint classification, published in June 1900, was
officially introduced at Scotland Yard in 1901 and quickly became the basis for its
criminal-identification records. The system was adopted immediately by law-
enforcement agencies in the English-speaking countries of the world and is now the
most widely used method of fingerprint classification. Juan Vucetich, an employee of the
police of the province of Buenos Aires in 1888, devised an original system of fingerprint
classification published in book form under the title Dactiloscopía comparada (1904;
“Comparative Fingerprinting”). His system is still used in most Spanish-speaking
countries.
Fingerprints are classified in a three-way process:

a. by the shapes and contours of individual patterns,

b. by noting the finger positions of the pattern types, and
c. by relative size, determined by counting the ridges in loops and by tracing the
ridges in whorls.

The information obtained in this way is incorporated in a concise formula, which is

known as the individual’s fingerprint classification.

There are several variants of the Henry system, but that used by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) in the United States recognizes eight different types of patterns:

1. radial loop,
2. ulnar loop,
3. double loop,
4. central pocket loop,
5. plain arch,
6. tented arch,
7. plain whorl, and
8. accidental.

Whorls are usually circular or spiral in shape. Arches have a moundlike contour,
while tented arches have a spikelike or steeplelike appearance in the centre. Loops
have concentric hairpin or staple-shaped ridges and are described as “radial” or “ulnar”
to denote their slopes; ulnar loops slope toward the little finger side of the hand, radial
loops toward the thumb. Loops constitute about 65 percent of the total fingerprint
patterns; whorls make up about 30 percent, and arches and tented arches together
account for the other 5 percent. The most common pattern is the ulnar loop.

Dactyloscopy, the technique of fingerprinting, involves cleaning the fingers

in benzene or ether, drying them, then rolling the balls of each over a glass surface
coated with printer’s ink. Each finger is then carefully rolled on prepared cards
according to an exact technique designed to obtain a light gray impression with clear
spaces showing between each ridge so that the ridges may be counted and
traced. Simultaneous impressions are also taken of all fingers and thumbs.

Latent fingerprinting involves locating, preserving, and identifying impressions left by a

culprit in the course of committing a crime. In latent fingerprints, the ridge structure is
reproduced not in ink on a record card but on an object in sweat, oily secretions, or
other substances naturally present on the culprit’s fingers. Most latent prints are
colourless and must therefore be “developed,” or made visible, before they can be
preserved and compared. This is done by brushing them with various gray or black
powders containing chalk or lampblack combined with other agents. The latent
impressions are preserved as evidence either by photography or by lifting powdered
prints on the adhesive surfaces of tape.

Though the technique and its systematic use originated in Great Britain, fingerprinting
was developed to great usefulness in the United States, where in 1924 two large
fingerprint collections were consolidated to form the nucleus of the present file
maintained by the Identification Division of the FBI. The division’s file contained the
fingerprints of more than 250 million persons by the early 21st century. Fingerprint files
and search techniques have been computerized to enable much quicker comparison
and identification of particular prints.

Here researchers trying to develop a technique to determine how long a fingerprint has
been at a crime scene
See all videos for this article
Other “fingerprinting” techniques have also been developed. These include the use of a
sound spectrograph—a device that depicts graphically such vocal variables as
frequency, duration, and intensity—to produce voicegraphs, or voiceprints, and the use
of a technique known as DNA fingerprinting, an analysis of those regions of DNA that
vary among individuals, to identify physical evidence (blood, semen, hair, etc.) as
belonging to a suspect. The latter test has been used in paternity testing as well as
in forensics.
J. Edgar HooverThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

3 Types of Fingerprints- Latent, Patent, and Plastic

There are many times in life where you need to be fingerprinted. Most often, it involves
the background check for a new job. In the state of Maryland, people wanting to legally
purchase and own a gun must be fingerprinted first. If you'd like to travel out of the
country and need a passport for the first time, you'll be fingerprinted. Of course, if you
are arrested you'll be fingerprinted too. Have you ever stopped to think about why?

Fingerprint identification is one of the most important criminal investigation tools due to
two features: their persistence and their uniqueness. A person’s fingerprints do not
change over time. The friction ridges which create fingerprints are formed while inside
their mother's womb and grow as the baby grows. The only way a fingerprint can
change is through permanent scarring, which doesn't happen very often. It isn't just that
fingerprints don't change. In addition, fingerprints are unique to an individual. Even
identical twins have different fingerprints. Your fingerprints are yours and yours alone,
and they'll be that way for the rest of your life!

3 Types of Fingerprints

In general, the purpose of collecting fingerprints is to identify an individual. This person

may be applying for a job, wanting to volunteer around children, hoping to buy a gun, a
criminal suspect, a victim of a crime, or a witness to an event where your identity needs
to be confirmed. There are three types of fingerprints that can be found:

#1 Latent (INVISIBLE)

#2 Patent (Visible)

#3 Plastic

Even if you don't realize it, you are leaving fingerprints everywhere! Latent fingerprints
are made of the sweat and oil on the skin’s surface. This type of fingerprint is invisible to
the naked eye and requires additional processing in order to be seen. This processing
can include basic powder techniques or the use of chemicals. Patent fingerprints, on the
other hand, can be made by blood, grease, ink, or dirt. This type of fingerprint is easily
visible to the human eye. Plastic fingerprints are three-dimensional impressions and can
be made by pressing your fingers in fresh paint, wax, soap, or tar. Just like patent
fingerprints, plastic fingerprints are easily seen by the human eye and do not require
additional processing for visibility purposes.

Latent Fingerprint

Chance impressions, or what is more commonly known as latent fingerprints, are the
oftentimes invisible patterns made by fingerprints that are usually left at crime
investigations or on objects recovered from crime scenes, and forensically analyzed by
latent fingerprint experts with the application of chemical or physical methods.
The use of fingerprinting as a means to identify criminals spread throughout Europe and
North America during the early twentieth century after British police officer Sir Edward
Richard Henry introduced the use of fingerprints to solve crimes in the 1890s. As
scientists studied fingerprint identification in more detail, they discovered that the ridge
arrangement of fingerprints is unique and permanent, unless accidentally or intentionally
altered. As crime-detection methods improved, law enforcement officers discovered that
any hard, smooth surface touched by hands could produce fingerprints made by the oily
secretions found on skin. When these so-called latent fingerprints were dusted with
powders or chemically treated, the resultant pattern (or impression) could be observed,
photographed, and stored for later use.

Latent fingerprints, which today are important pieces of forensic evidence , are created
either artificially, naturally, or as a combination of the two. They are artificially created
when fingers become covered with a foreign residue such as grease or oil. Latent
fingerprints are naturally created when very small sweat pores on friction skin (that is,
the top of skin ridges located on the inner surface area of fingers and hands) excrete
perspiration. This perspiration, along with oils from touching other parts of the body and
hair or from contact with external substances, remain on these ridges, so when an
object is touched by a finger a duplicate recording of these characteristics is usually left
on the surface. These hidden (or latent) impressions can be made visible when latent
print examiners apply chemicals, lasers and other light sources, powders, or other
physical means.

Latent fingerprint evidence is generally divided into two categories: porous evidence,
such as cardboard, paper, and unfinished wood, that readily allows for the preservation
of latent fingerprints because residue soaks into the surface; and non-porous evidence,
such as glass , finished wood, and plastic, which does not easily permit the preservation
of latent fingerprints because substances only lie on the surface and can be intentionally
or accidentally wiped away.

A positive identification of a latent fingerprint is normally achieved when, according to

the expertise of a latent print examiner, the amount of similarity between the latent print
(found at a crime scene, for example) and the inked fingerprint (taken from a suspect) is
sufficient to make a corresponding match. Such matches are not based only on the
degree of similarity (or number of matching points) between the two prints, but on
various examinations made of the skin ridges. The resulting conclusion by the examiner
is based on that person's experience, training , and understanding of the science behind
latent fingerprint identification. A trusted latent print examiner must be knowledgeable in
all areas of the science of fingerprint identification including classification methods,
history, and procedures for locating, processing , and preserving latent prints at the
crime scene or in the laboratory. As part of their duties, these examiners also give
expert witness testimony with regards to latent fingerprints in all phases of the legal
process.
New electronic procedures have been developed to detect and analyze latent
fingerprints for crime detection. One such procedure is called digital imaging , the
method of placing latent fingerprints into a digital format with the use of such equipment
as digital cameras , computers, and scanners. Latent print examiners then use digital
enhancement imaging software to adjust various features of the digital information such
as brightness, contrast, and density in order to improve the quality of the evidence.
Such electronic images are then input into an Automated Latent Print System (ALPS)
computer, a database system that searches latent prints for possible matches. The
ALPS computer assists the examiner in locating and retrieving records of known prints
so that a list of possible matches can be made. Once a list is generated, another
examiner (independent from the original investigation) conducts a scientific examination
to verify the original identification.

On the federal level, the Latent Print Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
conducts investigative work concerning the examination of latent fingerprints. When
submitted as evidence to the FBI Laboratory, latent prints are input into the Integrated
Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) computer. The IAFIS then
compares them against data from the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS)
Division, the largest international repository of fingerprint records.

Such efforts help to identify crime evidence involving latent fingerprints and solve
serious crimes throughout the nation.

What is a visible fingerprint called?

A patent print is what's left when you have liquid on your fingers—ink or blood, for
example—and touch a smooth surface. It's visible to the naked eye.

Visible prints are formed when blood, dirt, ink, paint, etc., is transferred from a finger or
thumb to a surface. Patent prints can be found on a wide variety of surfaces: smooth or
rough, porous (such as paper, cloth or wood) or nonporous (such as metal, glass or
plastic).

Plastic prints are essentially impressions made when you touch

something soft and malleable like wax or fresh paint. You might have
studied your own when playing with Play-Doh or silly putty as a kid.
They're also visible to the naked eye. Latent prints are invisible but
very common.
How are plastic fingerprints collected?
One of the most popularly known examination methods for latent fingerprints is referred
to as dusting for prints, whereby a nontoxic powder is applied to a smooth and
nonporous surface and dusted with a large brush to reveal trace evidence.

What is a plastic impression in forensics?

A plastic or molded impression is deposited when the hands, fingers, or feet is pressed
into a soft rubbery type material that will retain the impression of the ridge detail. Where
a latent impression is deposited on the surface, a plastic or molded impression would be
deposited into the surface.