1. To read true-life cases that have been solved by analyzing hair and fibers found at crime scenes, click: "The Criminal Mind."

2. We have provided two additional sets of images to introduce another common form of forensic evidence collected at crime scenes: latent fingerprints. The first stack, FPrintInfoStk.gif, introduces the basic types of fingerprints and shows the important features to look for in comparing fingerprints.

The key features of a fingerprint that are used to characterize it include the core (the central point in the fingerprint pattern), the delta (the point closest to the core where the lines or ridges diverge), and the ridge count. Cores and deltas are features of loop- and whorl-type fingerprints but arch-types lack them. The points where ridge lines split are known as bifurcations and several of these can be marked as shown in the sixth image. The seventh image presents a typical analysis of a fingerprint.

After examining the first stack, select FPrintStk2.gif, which includes a latent fingerprint collected at the crime scene as well as prints from several suspects. Classify the type of each of the fingerprints and do a more detailed analysis (points of comparison, ridge count) of the crime scene prints and any suspects' prints of the same type. Which suspect does the crime scene print most closely resemble?