Forensic Science - Hair Analysis I A
Forensic Science - Hair Analysis I A
Forensic Science - Hair Analysis I A
Hair Morphology
Morphology: Cuticle
Protective coating made of overlapping scales, produce a characteristic pattern Scales always point toward tip of hair Not useful in individualizing human hair Can be used for species identification
Morphology: Cuticle
Cuticle Types
Mosaic Pectinate Diamond
Imbricate
Petal
Morphology: Cortex
Made of spindle-shaped cells aligned in a regular array, parallel to the length of the hair Embedded with pigment granules that give hair its color The color, shape and distribution of the granules provide points for forensic comparison
Morphology: Medulla
Canal like structure of cells that runs through the center of the cortex
Medulla
Medulla vary between individuals Vary between hairs of the same individual Some hairs have no medulla
Medullary Index
Measure of the diameter of the medulla relative to the diameter of the hair shaft Usually expressed as a fraction Humans: medullary index < 1/3 Animals: medullary index > 1/2
Animals
MUSKRAT RABBIT
COW
Brown-Black
Red
Presence of medulla varies quite a bit: even hair to hair Human head hairs generally have no medulla or may be fragmented ones; except Mongoloid race whose medulla is usually continuous Most animals have medulla that is continuous or interrupted The shape of the medulla can help identify a species Examples: Most animals and humans: cylindrical Cats: pearl shape Deer: spherical occupying whole hair shaft
Stained sex chromatin in the nuclei of human cells showing the female-indicative Barr body (bright spot, top) and the male-indicative Y body (bright spot, bottom)
Racial Determination
Negroid
Mongoloid
Caucasian
Hair Roots
Pulled
Forcibly Removed
Shed
Burned
Cut
Razored
Split
Morphology: Root
Human hair grows in three developmental stages: anagen, catagen, and telogen phases
Phases
Initial growth phase during which hair follicle is actively producing hair, phase may last 6 years, root is flame like in appearance When pulled this root may contain a follicular tag (rich source of DNA)
A transition phasehair grows at a decreasing rate for two to three weekselongated appearance as root bulb shrinks and is being pushed out of hair follicle
Hair growth has endedroot takes on a club-like appearance during two-six month period, the hair will be pushed out of the follicle causing the hair to shed naturally
Compare Length Color Diameter Presence or absence of medulla Distribution, shape and color intensity of the pigment granules present in the cortex Dyed, bleached or natural hair
Dyed hair: dye color found in cuticle as well as throughout cortex Bleaching: removes pigment from the hair and gives a yellowish tint If there has been growth of hair since last bleach or dye treatment: natural-end is distinct in color Hair is known to grow at an approximate rate of 1 cm/month
Morphological abnormalities;
Diseases Deficiencies
Fungal and nit infections If one human head hair taken from the crime scene is found to be similar to a representative hair from a suspects head, the odds against it from originating from another person are about 4500 to 1 The odds of two different pubic hairs originating from two different individuals is 800 to 1
Body areas:
Scalp hairs show little variation of diameter and have more uniform distribution of pigment color Pubic hair are short, curly with a wide range of variations in shaft diameter and a continuous medulla Beard hairs: coarse and usually triangular in cross-section with blunt tips from cutting or shaving
Racial origin: Can distinguish between Negroid and Caucasian head hair Negroid hair: normally kinky, containing dense, unevenly distributed pigments, flat to oval in shape Caucasian hair: straight or wavy, with very fine to coarse pigments that are more evenly distributed when compared to Negroid hair Cross sections of Caucasian hair are oval to round in shape
Age cannot be determined from morphology with any degree of certainty except with infant hair
Fine, short in length, have fine pigment and are rudimentary in character
Sexual discrimination at this time is not considered to be a routine forensic technique, but can be made with root tip DNA Microscopic examination of the hair root may establish if the hair has fallen out or has been pulled out
Hair root with follicular tissue adhering to it is indicative that the hair has been pulled out
The current approach for examination of hair is the morphological characteristics Breakthroughs in nuclear DNA typing has extended the technology to the individualization of human hair
Examiners can link a particular human hair to an individual by characterizing the nuclear DNA in the hair root or follicular tissue adhering to the root Higher rate of success extracting DNA from a hair in the anagen phase or anagen hairs entering the catagen phase then those in the telogen phase
Collection
Crime scene hairs must always be accompanied by an adequate amount of control samples from the victim and from suspects Hair from any one area of the body varies significantly. The questioned hairs and control hairs must come from the same area of the body
Collection
Forensic hair comparisons usually involve scalp or pubic hairs Collection of 50 full length hairs from all areas of the scalp A minimum of two dozen full length pubic hairs In rape cases care must be taken to first comb the pubic area to remove all foreign hair present before the victim is sampled for control hair