DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjams.2024.v12i12.027

Pages: 1866-1872

Background: Footprint forms valuable physical evidence left unintentionally by the offenders during crime operations as recovered at the crime scenes. Foot impressions are used to determine stature, body weight and gender during crime scene investigation. However, there are incidences wherein partial footprints, or toe prints, are found at the crime scenes, hence some investigators have neglected such prints. Aim: The present study aimed to examine the ridge density of toe prints of Tagalog people living in the Philippines for gender determination. Methodology: The study recruited 242 consented Tagalogs, including 109 males and 133 females, and their toe prints were collected, following the standard procedure. The ridge density of right and left side toe prints was calculated by "Acree's method". The data were analysed statistically by SPSS software version 26 and performed an independent T-test. The correlation between the toe regions was studied using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Result: The result demonstrated that the mean ridge density of females is comparatively higher than the mean ridge density of males in all toes. On the right side, maximum sex differences were reflected for the ridge density in the third toe print area, followed by the second toe, fourth toe, and fifth toe with minimum sex differences in the great toe. The left side reflected maximum sex differences for the ridge density in the fourth toe, followed by the great toe, second toe, and third toe with a minimum in the third toe. The results were presented in the form of tables and figures. Conclusion: The study provided valuable information for gender determination from toe prints for crime scene application. This finding cannot be generalized and used only for the Tagalog population in the Philippines.