A Forensic Study of Ethnicity and Sex Differences in Fingerprint Patterns in a Malaysian Sub-population
Sexual and Ethnic Differences in Fingerprint Patterns
Vol. 16 No. 1 : 2021 (92-107)
Abstract
Fingerprint is one of the most common evidence found at a crime scene. Owing to the uniqueness of fingerprint, it is useful for suspect identification. Typically, the questioned fingerprint is of limited contribution due to blurriness of the minutia or absence of potential suspect. However, it is still useful if the ethnicity or sex of the questioned fingerprint could be inferred to narrow down the scope of searching of suspect. Therefore, this study aims to examine sexual and ethnic differences in fingerprint patterns among the three major ethnic groups in Malaysia, i.e. Malays, Chinese and Indians. In total, 2000 plain fingerprints were collected from all the ten fingers of 200 Malaysians (i.e. 99 males and 101 females). Each of the three ethnic groups was represented by at least 60 subjects. Descriptive statistics and hypothesis test were performed to assess the sexual and ethnic variability of fingerprint patterns. In addition, simple correspondence analysis was also conducted to support the descriptive and inferential statistics. By considering fingerprint patterns in all the ten fingers, loop was the most frequent pattern in Malays (23.0%) and Indians (23.2%), while Chinese (13.9%) showed slightly higher frequency of whorl than Malays (9.6%) and Indians (10.3%). The relative distribution of fingerprint patterns of male was similar to that of female. In conclusion, fingerprint patterns could be used to infer the ethnicity rather than the sex of a suspect in the Malaysian context.
Keywords :
Chi-square test,
fingerprints,
Malaysia,
Correspondance Address
Loong Chuen Lee. Program Sains Forensik, Fakulti Sains Kesihatan, Basemen 1, Perpustakaan Tun Seri Lanang, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. Tel: +603-8921 7202. Email: lc_lee@ukm.edu.my
References
Adamu, L.H., Taura, M.G. 2017. Application of likelihood ratio and posterior probability density in sex estimation from level two fingerprint features among Hausa ethnic group. Egypt J Forensic Sci 7: 25.
Adamu, L.H., Ojo, S.A., Danborno, B., Adebisi, S.S., Taura, M.G. 2018. Sex prediction using ridge density and thickness among the Hausa ethnic group of Kano state, Nigeria. Aust J Forensic Sci 50(5): 455-71.
Ahmed, A.A., Osman, S. 2016. Topological variability and sex differences in fingerprint ridge density in a sample of the Sudanese population. J Forensic Leg Med 42: 25-32.
Baryah, N., Krishan, K. 2020. Exploration of digital dermatoglyphics of two ethnicities of North India-forensic and anthropological aspects. Forensic Sci Int Reports 2: 100055.
Binorkar, S.V., Kulkarni, A.B. 2017. Study on the fingerprint pattern and gender distribution in and around Nanded district of Maharashtra state. Eur J Forensic Sci 4(1): 7-11.
Dhall, J.K., Kapoor, A.K. 2016. Fingerprint ridge density as a potential forensic anthropological tool for sex identification. J Forensic Sci 61(2): 424-9.
Fieldhouse, S. 2011. Consistency and reproducibility in fingermark deposition. Forensic Sci Int 207 (1-3): 96-100.
Fournier, N.A., Ross, A.H. 2016. Sex, ancestral and pattern type variation of fingerprint minutiae: A forensic perspective on anthropological dermatoglyphics. Am J Phys Anthropol 160(4): 625-32.
Gan, S.H., Normaizatul, A.I., Zury, A.A.R., Amidon, A. 2018. Distribution of fingerprint patterns among young adults and siblings in Malaysia. The Int J Med Sci 3(1): 11-7.
Gupta, A., Buckley, K., Sutton, R. 2008. Latent fingermark pore area reproducibility. Forensic Sci Int 179(2-3): 172-5.
Gutierrez-Redomero, E., Alonso-Rodriguez, C. 2013. Sexual and topological differences in palmprint and ridge density in the Caucasia Spanish population. Forensic Sci Int 229(1-3): 159e1-10.
Gutierrez-Redomero, E., Alonso, C. Romero, E., Galera, V. 2008. Variability of fingerprint ridge density in a sample of Spanish Caucasians and its application to sex determination. Forensic Sci Int 180(1): 17-22.
Gutierrez-Redomero, E., Rivalderia, N., Alonso-Rodriguez, C., Martin, L.M., Dipierri, J.E., Fernandez-Peire, M.A., Morillo, R. 2012. Are there population differences in minutiae frequencies? A comparative study of two Argentinian population samples and one Spanish sample. Forensic Sci Int 222(1-3): 266-76.
Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia. 2020. https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=column/cthemeByCat&cat=155&bul_id=OVByWjg5YkQ3MWFZRTN5bDJiaEVhZz09&menu_id=L0pheU43NWJwRWVSZklWdzQ4TlhUUT09 [August 2020].
Kapoor, N., Badiye, A. 2015. An analysis of whorl patterns for determination of hand. J Forensic Leg Med 32: 42-6.
Khadri, S.Y., Goudar, E.S., Khadri, S.Y. 2013. A study of fingerprint pattern and gender distribution of fingerprint in and around Bijapur. Al Ameen J Med Sci 6(4): 328-31.
Kryszczuk, K., Drygajlo, A., Morier, P. 2004. Extraction of Level 2 and Level 3 features for fragmentary fingerprints. In Proc. of the 2nd COST275 Workshop. Vigo, Spain; 83-8.
Meuwly, D. 2009. Fingerprint, Forensic Evidence of. In: Encyclopedia of Biometrics. Edited by Li, S.Z., Jain, A. Boston, MA: Springer.
Muller-Ford, C.S. 2004. Analysis of dermatoglyphic heritability: A study of phenotypic relationships. MSc Thesis. University of Montana.
Nanakorn, S., Kutanan, W., Chusilp, K. 2013. An exploration of fingerprint patterns and their concordance among Thai Adolescents. Chiang Mai J Sci 40(3): 332-43.
Nayak, V.C., Rastogi, P., Kanchan, T., Yoganarasimha, K., Kumar, G.P., Menezes, R.G. 2010. Sex difference from fingerprint ridge density in Chinese and Malaysian population. Forensic Sci Int 197(1-3): 67-9.
Neumann, C. 2012. Fingerprints at the crime-scene: Statistically certain, or probable? Significance 9(1): 21-5.
Nithin, M.D., Balaraj, B.M., Manjunatha, B., Mestri, S.C. 2009. Study of fingerprint classification and their gender distribution among South Indian population. J Forensic Leg Med 16(8): 460-3.
McHugh, M.L. 2013. The Chi-square test of independence. Biochemia Medica 23(2): 143-9.
Oktem, H., Kurkcuoglu, A., Pelin, I.C., Yazici, A.C., Aktas, G., Altunay, F. 2015. Sex differences in fingerprint ridge density in a Turkish young adult population: A sample of Baskent University. J Forensic Leg Med 32: 34-8.
R Core Team. 2019. R: A language and environmental for statistical computing. Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. http://www.R-project.org/
Rivalderia, N., Sanchez-Andres, A., Alonso-Rodriguez, C., Dipierri, J.E., Gutierrez-Redomero, E. 2016. Fingerprint ridge density in the Argentinean population and its application to sex inference: A comparative study. Homo 67(1): 65-84.
Sagun, S., Nidhi, S., Kumar, J.S., Virendra, B., Rakhi, R., Rohin, G., Hina, N., Sumita, S. 2016. A study of sexual dimorphism in finger print pattern in Indian population. Ann Int Med Den Res 2(4): 168-73.
Shrestha, I., Malla, B.K. 2019. Study of fingerprint patterns in population of a community. J Nepal Med Assoc 57(129): 293-6.
Stambouli, H., El Bouri, A., Tijani, N., El Baghdadi, M., Rhazaf, A. 2015. Occurrence of fingerprint patterns in the Moroccan population. Can Soc Forensic Sci 48(4): 160-6.
Swofford, H.J. 2005. Fingerprint patterns: A study on the finger and ethnicity prioritized order of occurrence. J Forensic Identif 55(4): 480-8.
Taduran, R.J.O., Tadeo, A.K.V., Escalona, N.A.C., Townsend, G.C. 2016. Sex determination from fingerprint ridge density and white line counts in Filipinos. Homo 67(2): 163-71.
Teng, Y.S., Tan, S.G. 1979. Genetic evidence of gen flow from Indians to Malays. Jap J Human Genet 24(1): 1-8.
Ulery, B.T., Hicklin, R.A., Buscaglia, J., Roberts, M.A. 2011. Accuracy and reliability of forensic latent fingerprint decisions. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108(19): 7733-8.
Walton, A., Moret, S., Barash, M., Gunn, P. 2019. The frequency of fingerprint patterns separated by ethnicity and sex in a general population from Sydney, Australia. Aust J Forensic Sci 51(sup1): S162-7.
Wijerathne, B.T.B., Rathnayake, G.K., Adikari, S.C., Amarasinghe, S., Abhayarathna, P.L., Jayasena, A.S. 2013. Sexual dimorphism in digital dermatoglyphic traits among Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka. J Physiol Anthropol 32(1): 27.
