• AFIS: Automated Fingerprint Identification System. Used to search a fingerprint against a database for potential matches.
• Alternate Light Source: A device that has the ability to cycle between several different wavelengths of light . It can alter the wavelength of light being emitted from the source.
• Class Characteristic: A feature that is common to a group of items.
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigator or Crime Scene Investigation, depending on the context.
• CSI Effect: A recent phenomenon, creating elevated standards and heightened expectations in the minds of jurors and others of the ability of real-life forensic science, that arose from television shows like CSI, which can distort the reality of the science.
• Deciduous Teeth: Also known as baby teeth, milk teeth, temporary teeth, primary teeth. They are the first set of human dentition and are 20 in number.
• Defensive Wound: Characteristic injuries during the course of an assault, as the victim tries to defend itself, and ward off blows. Typically found on the palmar surface of the hands and forearms.
• Dental Stone: A.K.A. Castone. A powder material that when mixed with water in a 2:1 ratio can be poured into molds to create a cast of the original impression. Dental stone is often used to collect three-dimensional impressions, such as shoeprints.
• DNA: Deoxyribo-nucleic Acid. The basic human genetic material.
• nDNA: (Nuclear DNA) The genetic material found in the nucleus of the cell that is unique to every individual, except for identical twins.
• mtDNA: (Mitochondrial DNA) The genetic material found in the mitochondria (energy producer) of the cell. mtDNA is passed genetically by the mother and is the same within the entire maternal lineage.
• Nucleus: The “brain” of the cell that contains DNA and other mechanisms to run efficiently.
• Electrostatic Dustprint Lifter: (ESDPL) A device that creates a charge across a Mylar film to lift dust off a surface.
• Fingerprint: The Friction Ridge Pattern found on the surface of the fingers, palms, soles, and toes. Fingerprints are unique to an individual.
• Forensic Light Source: (See Also Alternate Light Source) Has the ability of shining a specific wavelength of light, usually blue light.
• Friction Ridge Pattern: (See Also Fingerprint) The technical term for the ridges on the palmar and plantar surfaces that create a fingerprint or toeprint.
• Gel Lifter: A soft gelatinous sheet with a sticky surface that is used to lift a material off a rough or irregular surface, such as fingerprint powder or dusty shoeprints.
• Individual Characteristic: A feature that is unique to a single item, and differentiates it from every other item.
• Livor Mortis: The post-mortem settling of blood to the dependant portions of the body.
• Rigor Mortis: Stiffness of the body after death. Used as an aid to estimate time of death.
• Slash Wound: A wound where the length of the injury is greater than the depth.
• Stab Wound: A wound where the depth of the injury is greater than the length.
• Stippling: Small, punctate scars of the skin due to the excess, unburned gun-powder from a close range gun-shot wound.
• White Light: White light is also referred to as natural light and it includes all the wavelengths of light within the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.