Baryah Neha, Krishan Kewal, Kanchan Tanuj
Department of Anthropology (UGC Centre of Advanced Study, CAS II), Panjab University, Sector 14, Chandigarh, India.
Chandigarh School of Business, Chandigarh Group of Colleges, Jhanjeri, Sector 112 Greater Mohali, Punjab, India.
Naturwissenschaften. 2023 Feb 1;110(1):5. doi: 10.1007/s00114-023-01834-z.
The tenacity of the fingerprint evidence for the identification of criminals has been well documented, but none of the research work so far focussed on unusual prints. Therefore, in the present study, we attempted to define rarely encountered fingerprints in a human population. Our purpose was to explore unusual pattern types on the finger balls and compare these with commonly occurring and classifiable pattern types. Furthermore, we discuss the occurrence of unusual fingerprints in both the sexes with reference to the finger digits. The study was conducted on 512 participants aged between 18 and 35 years from two ethnic groups of North India. A total of 5120 fingerprints from each digit of the 512 individuals were obtained. The fingerprints were analysed for the pattern types based on Henry's classification. Patterns that did not fall in the prescribed category as per the definition of the published finger pattern types were identified as unusual fingerprints. We found an incidence of unusual prints of 0.21% and describe these based on a comparison with the general pattern types according to Henry's classification. We describe eleven unusual fingerprint patterns, formulating categories that may aid in the individualisation process. The proposed new nomenclature of these unusual fingerprints may assist forensic scientists and fingerprint examiners in better understanding and labelling of similar patterns in forensic cases. Our research may also influence the general forensic science community and biological anthropologists in making population standards pertaining to different types of fingerprints in various population groups and their genetic and familial relationships.
指纹证据在罪犯识别方面的可靠性已有充分记录，但迄今为止尚无研究聚焦于异常指纹。因此，在本研究中，我们试图界定人群中罕见的指纹类型。我们的目的是探索指球上不常见的纹型，并将其与常见且可分类的纹型进行比较。此外，我们还参照手指部位探讨了不同性别人群中异常指纹的出现情况。本研究对来自印度北部两个族群的512名年龄在18至35岁之间的参与者进行。共获取了这512个人每个手指的5120枚指纹。根据亨利分类法对指纹的纹型进行分析。不符合已发表指纹纹型定义中规定类别的纹型被确定为异常指纹。我们发现异常指纹的发生率为0.21%，并根据与亨利分类法中的一般纹型类型的比较对其进行描述。我们描述了11种异常指纹纹型，制定了有助于个体化过程的类别。这些异常指纹的新命名法可能有助于法医科学家和指纹鉴定人员更好地理解和标记法医案件中的类似纹型。我们的研究还可能影响整个法医学界和生物人类学家制定不同人群中不同类型指纹的群体标准及其遗传和家族关系。
