If a fingerprint is not on record, is it possible to deduce any racial, gender or other information from the print itself?

ferfer72

I have read some crime fiction where this is possible. The Lincoln Rhyme series deals with forensics a lot. I don't know that he's ever determined race or gender on a print alone, but he's figured out that they have scars. If memory serves, in one book (I think the last one) he knew someone was good at calligraphy because of a fingerprint. Jul 02 04, 2:26 AM

TheAlphaWolf

nope. (once again, out of my head... but I was actually right! LOL!) http://www.psychologymatters.org/galton.html "He had hoped to show that different racial groups had different fingerprints, but his detailed empirical observations did not agree with this hypothesis." Jul 02 04, 8:36 AM

gmackematix

Yes, Ferfer. I don't know that the activity could be pinpointed, but surely it can be seen from calluses that a person uses their hands a lot for something? But Galton was working over 100 years ago. Nowadays we have mass spectroscopy and can not only study the pattern of a fingerprint but its chemical composition, placement, force of impression and so on which must all give some clues? I have found, for instance, that work by Michelle Buchanan has shown why children's fingerprints can be less durable than those of an adult Jul 04 04, 10:08 AM

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