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Latent Prints From Human Skin Help Solve Crime


Jeany Ahn

     William C. Sampson, a retired police officer, has been working for more than two decades on a new technique designed to lift latent prints from human skin. While working on two separate serial killer cases shortly before his retirement, Sampson learned that by manipulating the environmental ambient temperature and keeping the skin at a certain temperature there is a better chance of getting readable prints from human skin. Advancements of this development have resulted in the identification and conviction of at least 39 perpetrators. Simpson has been teaching others around the country on the conditions of how to perfect this technique, a review of reported cases where latent prints have been successfully recovered from human skin, and even a hands on experience of trying to lift prints off of each other's skin. Now, with refined techniques, Sampson's experiments are yielding almost a 100% success rate, as opposed to the one in 15,000,000 of getting good prints in the past.

Latent fingerprint: A fingerprint that is not apparent to the eye but can be made sufficiently visible, as by dusting or fuming, for use in identification.

Ambient temperature: completely surrounding temperature

Kristi, Gulick "Latent Prints From Human Skin," Law and Order Magazine, February, 2000

Copyright Bronx Science 2001