As a class we discussed how not only the size and shape of the print are important, but also which direction the print is directed, the type of soil that the print is in, and the weather outside also determine factors of the print. Along with these things the wear patterns of the shoe and walking patterns of the owner of the shoe. The size of the print even allows the detectives to be able to etimate the persons height, and the depth of the print the detectives to also estimate weight. Prints are made by leaving behind (blood, soil) or removing (dust, blood) material from a surface. Impressions are made in a material such as mud, sand or snow. When a footprint is found at a crime scene it can often be compared to another footprint found at another scene to deteremine f the same person may have comitted each crime. In order to preserve the print so that it can be used detectives often take pictures of the print so that it can be analyzed on a computer. There are often times when a cast is made of the print so that it can be duplicated later, in order to do this pour a dense liquid into the actual shoe imprint and allow it to set for a while. After the liquid solidifies, it can be picked up as one piece so that a replica will be available for future reference.
Analyzing Footprints:
(1) Often times if footprints are deep and the pace is long, rapid movement is apparent. Long strides and deep prints with the toe prints deeper than the heel prints indicate that the person was running
(2) Prints that are deep, short, and widely spaced, that have signs of scuffing or shuffling indicate the person was most likely carrying a heavy load (3) Persons walking backward have a short, irregular stride, and have deep toe impression, and soil is displaced in the direction of movement.
(4) To determine the sex the sniper should study the size and position of the footprints. Women tend to be pigeon-toed, while men walk with their feet straight ahead or pointed slightly to the outside. Prints left by women are usually smaller and the stride is usually shorter than prints left by men.
Footprinting Project:
When my group and I did the project we had three females and one male, we determined that yes, gender does play a factor in the size of the print. Out of the group the male had the largest print size both in length and width. my group was also able to determine what kind of shoes that the person was wearing based on the print, this also played a factor in determining if the print was that of a female or male. for example, there was a girl in our group wearing boots when she made her print factoring in the size of the print and the mark of the heel of her boots we were able to determine that it was a female. The size of the print makes it look like the print is that of a male, then the print is so light (meaning that it the print isnt deep in the dirt) means that the male was most likley light weight.
Sources:
is there a picture of the actual analysis
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