Gender variation from footprint ridge density among lun bawangs of malaysian borneo for crime scene application

Forensic crime investigators are struggling to trace physical evidence in the crime scene to link the crime and criminal. Even though the criminals are cautious in leaving their fingerprints during the crime operations, still leaving their footprints unconsciously and thus give way for their identification. Ridge density is a current tool used for gender determination and hence the anthropological researchers are showing interest in the study of footprint ridge density, considering the ethnicity. The present study aimed to evaluate gender dependent variation in the different areas of footprints among Lun Bawang of Malaysian Borneo. The study recruited 200 consented adult people of 100 males and 100 females from Malaysian Borneo and collected 400 bilateral footprints collected for analysis. The footprint ridge density was calculated using a 5mm x 5mm area of eight designated area in each footprint namely, T1 - great toe, T2 - second toe, T3 - third toe, T4 - fourth toe, T5 - little toe, MB - medial ball region, LB - lateral ball region andH - heel region on both left [L] and right [R] foot prints. LT1 represents the left great toe region while RT1 represents the right great toe region for ridge density analysis. The data were analysed statistically using SPSS software, t-test, Pearson's correlation, and ROC curve. Examination of AUC in ROC showed that the sexing potential was maximal at heel followed by medial ball, great toe and lateral ball. The study concluded that the footprint ridge study provides corroborative parameter in gender determination in forensic perspective.