USF St. Petersburg campus Honors Program Theses (Undergraduate)

First Advisor

Peter Massey, Ph.D.

Publisher

University of South Florida St. Petersburg

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

2023

Date Issued

April 2023

Abstract

Since the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020, alcohol-based hand sanitizers have been utilized by the general public because it eliminates germs on the skin surface along with virus cells. The use of hand sanitizer can have an adverse effect on the collection of fingerprints at a crime scene. A fingerprint is made up of amino acids which deteriorate under the presence of alcohol-based hand sanitizer. With prolonged use the product can even erode a subject’s skin altering the fingerprint to the point that it does not match documented latent prints. The purpose of this experiment is to determine the average time frame an individual has after putting on alcohol-based sanitizer to produce altered fingerprints. Then if the collected experimental prints could lead to possible mistaken ID initially after collection. A set amount of alcoholic based hand sanitizer will be applied on a test subject’s hands and in intervals of 30 seconds a fingerprint will be recorded on a solid porous service. The prints will be collected and examined based on the ninhydrin intensity cataloged next to a latent print of the test subject.

Comments

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University Honors Program University of South Florida, St. Petersburg April 28, 2023.

Download

Share

COinS