Correlation Between Fingerprint Ridge Density and Gender Determination in South Chennai

Fingerprint analysis is one of the most reliable methods of personal identification in forensic science. The present study is to determine whether there is a correlation between ridge density of fingerprints and gender determination for individuals in South Chennai, with the goal of determining the usefulness of ridge density in forensic identification. This study utilized a quantitative research design, and fingerprint samples were obtained from male and female participants through standard inkless pad and paper method. The number of ridges were counted in multiple quadrants and averaged to obtain the ridge density; the collected data is classified by gender, then descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, and independent sample t-tests were performed with the data. The result demonstrated clear variations in fingerprint ridge density among male and female participants, with females naturally exhibiting a greater number of ridge count than the males in same spatial size. The statistical results of the analyses showed a significant relationship between ridge density and gender, indicating that ridge density could serve as a useful indicator of gender in the South Chennai population. Finally, it was concluded that ridge density can have forensic value for gender identification and can be an additional supportive method of identification for individuals.