CJ 215 - Advanced Fingerprint Identification

Credits: 5
Provides an in-depth analysis of friction ridge skin, building on basic fingerprint identification concepts from CJ 115 - Fingerprint Science. Students will make complex evaluations of ridge detail using best practices. Explore various techniques used to process evidence, document results, and testify as an expert witness.

Enrollment Requirement: CJ 115 with a grade of 2.0 or higher; or instructor consent.

Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this class will be able to:

Demonstrate the ability to correctly examine and identify latent prints and known prints.
Recognize the appearance of palmprints, joints, and tips of the fingers in evaluating partial impressions.
Properly document results through use of charts, written reports, and notes.
Be familiar with several techniques used to process/ preserve evidence for latent print examination.
Testify in a mock trial, be familiar with court procedures.

Program Outcomes

Give reasons for conclusions, assumptions, beliefs, and hypotheses.
Meet obligations necessary to complete individual and group tasks.

College-wide Outcomes

Critical Thinking - Critical thinking finds expression in all disciplines and everyday life. It is characterized by an ability to reflect upon thinking patterns, including the role of emotions on thoughts, and to rigorously assess the quality of thought through its work products. Critical thinkers routinely evaluate thinking processes and alter them, as necessary, to facilitate an improvement in their thinking and potentially foster certain dispositions or intellectual traits over time.
Responsibility - Responsibility encompasses those behaviors and dispositions necessary for students to be effective members of a community. This outcome is designed to help students recognize the value of a commitment to those responsibilities which will enable them to work successfully individually and with others.