Glossary

The Frye Standard is based on the judgement of court proceedings in the United States. Here the judge refused a polygraph as evidence. The rejection was based on a lack of significant, universal recognition in the scientific community.

The term “Forensics” is derived from the Latin word “forum” (=marketplace, forum). The reason for this is that in ancient Rome court procedures and criminal implementation were conducted in public on the forum. In modern days, forensics deals only with the study of scientific and technical activities to systematically identify criminal activities, analyze and reconstruct them. The term “Forensics” includes several subdivisions, such as forensic medicine, forensic ballistic or forensic toxicology.

In criminal cases, physical contact between the perpetrators and the victims are quite frequent. Thus, the possibility of visualizing fingerprints on human skin would be a huge progress for criminal investigation. Different approaches exist for the detection and examination of latent fingerprints on human skin. However, these are rarely successful.

Fingerprint recognition refers to the automated method of verifying a match between two human fingerprints. Because of their uniqueness and lifetime consistency fingerprints have been used for identification in Europe for over a century. A variety of features perfectly qualifies them for the biometric identification and verification of people. Basically, there are three hierarchical levels of analyzing fingerprints.

Forensics is using crime scene investigation to find relevant traces to use as material evidence of a crime. Crime scene investigation is based on the Locard’s Exchange Principle. This states that “every contact leaves a trace”. Crime scene investigation entails, beside the search for traces, also the collection, the analysis and its preservation.