Patent Prints

Patent Prints are the first of the three types of Fingerprints. Patent Prints are made when something on the surface of the finger (ex: blood, dirt, ink) is put onto the surface of an object. these can be seen with the naked eye and Forensic scientists only need to take photographs of them.

Plastic Fingerprints

A Plastic Print is a fingerprint that has been placed on a surface that retains the print like : Hot wax, grease on car parts, or dust. Since the surface retains the shape, no dusting is required.

Latent Fingerprints

Latent Fingerprints reffer to fingerprints that can not be seen with the naked eye, and must be dusted. They are often smudged or partial, and for these reasons are generally not very usefull to Forensic Scientists.

History of Fingerprinting

Fingerprints date back all the way to ancient Babylon, where people would use them to " sign" the ancient clay tablets used for buisness transactions. Later on in Ancient Persia, a government official stated that no two fingerprints are exactly alike. In 1870 a man named Alphonse Bertillon came of with a system of measuring peoples bones to identify them. this system was usefull until one person discovered two men of the same name with the exact same bone type and length. In the past 100 years, scientists have been filing and studying fingerprints for use in criminal court.