Fingerprints are an important piece of evidence that can be found on many crime scenes. In this study, the change in the clarity of fingerprints as time passed since the print was placed was tested, along with different types of fingerprinting powder. Charged fingerprints were placed on three common surfaces–glass, plastic, and aluminum. These fingerprints were all placed on the same day and lifted weekly using six types of fingerprinting powders. Six prints were lifted with each type of powder on the three surfaces over a timespan of six weeks. Each lifted print was analyzed against an original print to assess the clarity of the prints as time passed. While the clarity varied from print to print, it stayed relatively consistent over the six weeks for each surface type. While some of the unclear prints may have resulted from human error, the conclusion stayed the same. The clarity of lifted fingerprints does not significantly decrease over six weeks for the aluminum and glass, but stays the same. The differing factor is the clarity of the print when it is first placed and the way the print reacts to each technique and powder. The clarity of the glass prints is the worst and the number of clear glass prints do decrease over time.

Gabrielle would like to thank her faculty sponsor Erik Hall for their support of this project.