Abstract
In the forensic science field, it is generally accepted that all tears and fractures are unique; however, there is limited scientific evidence to support this. This study tests the claim that all tears are unique, focusing on paper. One-hundred Office Depot brand 3” x 5” blank, white index cards were torn in half by hand. Six halves were randomly removed; the remaining 94 halves were mixed and then matched by a novice using end-match analysis. The removal of the 6 random halves left 44 matching pairs. Of the remaining halves, all 44 pairs were correctly matched. The results show that each tear was unique and that no two halves were similar enough to be misidentified as a match.
Recommended Citation
Aguilar, Marilyn
(2019)
"Physical Match: Uniqueness of Torn Paper,"
Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science: Vol. 7
:
Iss.
1
, Article 4.
https://doi.org/10.31979/THEMIS.2019.0704
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/themis/vol7/iss1/4
Included in
Constitutional Law Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Forensic Science and Technology Commons
