A Manual Examination of Ridgeoscopy and Edgeoscopy Pattern in Developed Latent Fingerprints for Determination of Sex

The analysis of fingerprints is of great importance in forensic science for the identification of individuals because of the individuality and the permanence of the ridge formations. This research work concentrates on the manual analysis of ridgeoscopy and edgeoscopy in developed latent fingerprints for sex identification. Main goals include the measurement of the width of the ridge and the IRD and the investigation of edgeoscopic features, especially of ridge edge type. Two hundred specimens were obtained that, half of them, are the prints of the male and the other half are those of the female and they were examined in order. Ridge width and IRD were obtained through the use of a manual Methods of measurement, whereas edge types were retained and subjected to the analysis of percentage distribution. Independent t-test was used for statistical analysis to compare the male and female samples. Findings reveal that the male ridge breadth with a range of 0.55 mm to 0.80 mm is always higher than the female ridge breadth ranging from to 0.40 mm to 0.55 mm. Likewise, IRD measurements are more for males (0.52 mm - 0.83 mm) than for females (0.42 mm - 0.60 mm). Such variations are of statistical significance (p < 0.05). Conversely edgeoscopic characteristics are almost equally distributed between the sexes and only a marginal variation was observed within the studied group. In conclusion, ridge breadth and inter-ridge distance are significant indicators for sex determination, while edgeoscopic features serve as supportive parameters in forensic identification.