Mizokami Leila Lopes, Silva Lara Rosana Vieira, Kückelhaus Selma Aparecida Souza
Identification Institute, Civil Police of the Federal District, SAI Sudoeste, Bloco A, Ed. Sede, Brasilia 70610-200, Federal District, Brazil.
Area of Morphology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Brasilia, Campus Darcy Ribeiro, Brasilia 70910-000, Federal District, Brazil.
Forensic Sci Int. 2015 Jul;252:77-81. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2015.04.019. Epub 2015 Apr 24.
In forensic science, the putrefaction, maceration, mummification or burning make it difficult to collect the fingerprints of the epidermis for identification purposes. In such cases, the comparison between fingerprints collected from the dermal surface and the ante mortem pattern of the epidermal surface archived in databases must be performed. Therefore, considering that the identification of corpses is done by comparison of fingerprints on different surfaces, this study aimed to compare the epidermal and the dermal fingerprints to determine the discrepancies between the minutiae of both surfaces. The study was conducted with excised fingers of 19 fresh adult corpses. Once selected, excised and photographed, the fingers were subjected to maceration with 0.5% acetic acid solution for the removal of the epidermal glove and for registering the dermal fingerprint. Then, an area of 1cm(2) in the epidermal and dermal photographies was selected and the minutiae of each were separately marked by an expert in identification. The comparison between minutiae of the epidermal and dermal surfaces showed that: (1) both surfaces maintained the patterns and characteristics of fingerprints (arch, whorl or loop) and the characteristics related to the systems and the disposal of the lines, meaning the formation or not of deltas; (2) the total number of marked minutiae did not differ between both surfaces for the group of individuals (paired t test, p=0.48); (3) the percentage of coincidences and divergences (minutiae present on only one surface) between minutiae were 63.0±20.0% and 37.0±20.0%, respectively; (4) identification was possible for 16 fingers/individuals, but not for 3 of them; (5) the increase in the number of marked minutiae does not affect the percentage of coincidences. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of the dermal surface for identification purposes due to the high percentage of matching minutiae, but considering the discrepancies and the inconclusive identification of 3 fingers/individuals, our study points to the use of more fingers per individual, as well as the possibility of further studies to improve on the techniques for increasing the identification of corpses, or even to deploy new technologies to ensure their rapid and safe identification.
在法医学中，尸体的腐败、浸软、木乃伊化或焚烧使得为识别目的采集表皮指纹变得困难。在这种情况下，必须对从真皮表面采集的指纹与数据库中存档的生前表皮指纹模式进行比对。因此，考虑到尸体识别是通过比较不同表面的指纹来完成的，本研究旨在比较表皮指纹和真皮指纹，以确定两个表面细节特征之间的差异。该研究使用了19具新鲜成年尸体的离体手指进行。一旦选定、切除并拍照，手指就用0.5%的醋酸溶液进行浸软处理，以去除表皮手套并记录真皮指纹。然后，在表皮和真皮照片中选取1平方厘米的区域，由一名识别专家分别标记每个区域的细节特征。表皮和真皮表面细节特征的比对结果表明：（1）两个表面都保留了指纹的模式和特征（弓型、螺型或箕型）以及与纹路系统和布局相关的特征，即是否形成三角；（2）个体组中两个表面标记的细节特征总数没有差异（配对t检验，p = 0.48）；（3）细节特征之间的重合率和差异率（仅出现在一个表面的细节特征）分别为63.0±20.0%和37.0±20.0%；（4）16根手指/个体能够识别，但其中3根不能识别；（5）标记的细节特征数量增加并不影响重合率。我们的结果表明，由于细节特征的高匹配率，真皮表面用于识别目的是可行的，但考虑到差异以及3根手指/个体的不确定识别情况，我们的研究指出每个个体应使用更多手指，以及有可能进行进一步研究以改进尸体识别技术，甚至采用新技术以确保其快速、安全的识别。
