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The Possibilities and Limitations of Forensic Hand Comparison
Author(s) -
Slot Ana,
Geradts Zeno J.M.H.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.12542
Subject(s) - identification (biology) , computer science , forensic science , artificial intelligence , quality (philosophy) , observer (physics) , face (sociological concept) , test (biology) , pattern recognition (psychology) , medicine , biology , veterinary medicine , paleontology , social science , philosophy , botany , physics , epistemology , quantum mechanics , sociology
On recordings of certain crimes, the face is not always shown. In such cases, hands can offer a solution, if they are completely visible. An important aspect of this study was to develop a method for hand comparison. The research method was based on the morphology, anthropometry, and biometry of hands. A new aspect of this study was that a manual and automated test were applied, which, respectively, assess many features and provide identification rates quickly. An important observation was that good quality images can provide sufficient hand details. The most distinctive features were the length/width ratio, the palm line pattern and the quantity of highly distinctive features present, and how they are distributed. The results indicate that experience did not improve the identification rates, while the manual test did. Intra‐observer variability did not influence the results, whereas hands of relatives were frequently misjudged. Both tests provided high identification rates.