earticle

영어

There are no research of how much soil transfer to hand and how long it persists during daily life, although soil is an important trace evidence. Therefore, the transfer and persistence characteristics of soil was investigated. As a result of observing 96 volunteers under the condition of not touching the soil within 1 hour, there was no case that more than grade-1 of soil was detected under the fingernails. 23 of them(24%) exhibited grade-1 of soil. From this point of view, it was found that even if a small amount of soil was attached, it could not be conclusively said that the suspect had recently performed soil-related activities. Also, if a person did not touch the soil, there are no grades higher than 2 were obtained. As a result of observing the transfer and persistence characteristics of soil under fingernails, we found that the soil quickly fell off at the initial stage and then slowly fell over time. In addition, even 120 minutes after touching the soil, 2 of 26 fingers(8%) had grade-3 of soil. So forensic investigators should not give up to collect the soil from suspects, even 120 minutes after arrest. We also found that the act of washing hands affected the amount of soil under the fingernails and the pace of soil persistence. Lastly, we found that the soil more slowly fell off under the fingernail than the fingertip because protection nature of the fingernail.