Fingerprinting is the easiest way of identifying the body. The methods of its usage depend on three stages: a fresh body, a body with rigor mortis and a body with advanced decomposition stages. In the first case, it is rather simple and is performed the same way as it would have been on a dead person: the body is placed face and palm down on a table and inks to place the ink on the deceased’s fingers and leave the prints on the paper.
The second case depends on the severity of the rigor mortis: if it has just begun, the stiffness of the fingers needs to be loosened, move the wrist and take prints the same way as in the aforementioned method (Forensic Fingerprint, 2021). If the process is complete, it needs to be overcome by placing the hand in hot water, then drying it out. The time limit for immersions depends on the water temperature (1-3 minutes).
When the fingers are inflexible and the wrist cannot be moved or the body’s hands are clenched in fists, force needs to be used. One needs to make cuts on the fingers where the joints are, so that the former could be straightened. After that, the normal method is used for taking fingerprints. In the last case, there are three commonly used methods: plastic regeneration, the usage of NaOH and xylene (Forensic Fingerprint, 2021). The first method decreases the shrinkage of the tissues on the fingers with the help of air or glycerinated gelatine. NaOH is used for decreasing the shrinkage as well. The first phalange of each finger is cut, after which they are immersed in the solution. Finally, xylene is used when both of the methods are futile.
There are three commonly known types of prints located in different surfaces: visible, plastic and latent. Visible ones are caused by an obvious substance (blood), and can be found on walls and furniture (The Forensics Library, n.d.). Plastic prints can be found on soft surfaces, such as wax or plasticine. Latent prints can be found on glass or metal and caused by bodily fluids, thus requiring specific tools to visualize them.
References
Forensic Fingerprint. (2021). How to take fingerprints of a dead body.
The Forensics Library. (n.d.). Latent Prints.