Method for fingerprints age determination

G. Popa, R. Potorac, N. Preda

Abstract: The aim of this study was to establish an estimation relationship of the age of fingerprints left on surfaces, by morphological, structural, macro- and microscopic examinations, together with biochemical and titration DNA tests in order to confirm the rate of biological degradation during a certain period. The capacity of counting the age of a fingerprint lead to the possibility to place it in time and to correlate it with the time of doing the criminal act, bringing us information about the presence of a person in a certain place and period. As research methods we used forensic techniques for fingerprints, as well as cytology and molecular biological methods (DNA analysis, DNA quantification with TaqMan using Real Time PCR). The estimation of the age of fingerprints using these methods offers us the advantages of standardization based on relationships between morphological or/and biochemical characteristics depending on time, as well as the possibility to assign as a rough guide a blood type to an individual.
Keywords: fingerprints, DNA analysis, forensic techniques