A novel method for the consistent and reproducible deposition of earprints; a preliminary study

There is evidence to suggest that no two human ears are identical and therefore they have been used for human identification purposes. The quantity of force applied to an ear during the deposition of a mark is known to affect the appearance of the mark and the detail available for identification. When earmarks are recovered from crime scenes they are commonly compared to control earprints, recovered using a variety of techniques that aim to deposit earprints at multiple force quantities. A device called an earprint sampler has been developed which aimed to deposit earprints under controlled force quantities. Earprints were deposited using the earprint sampler at force quantities between 1-10N. The results suggested that the quantity of force applied did affect the appearance of the prints, but the earprint sampler offered a means of controlling the deposition process. There was no statistically significant difference in the measurements taken from multiple earprints deposited at a 10N force (p≥0.05), which provided evidence of repeatability.