Study on Hair Morphology to Distinguish the Dominant Races in Malaysia for Forensic Investigation

Abstract

Hair evidence is one of the most common types of evidence encountered in criminal investigations. The present preliminary study is aimed to investigate the racial discrimination through hair morphology viz. inner cuticle margin, cuticle thickness and medulla pattern among Malay, Chinese and Indian in Malaysia. Following standard procedure, a total of 180 volunteers' head hair samples, each 60 (30 males, 30 females) from consented Malay, Chinese and Indian, have been collected for analysis. Approximately 1 cm length of each hair was cut and suitably mounted using clean microscope slide, cover slide and mounting medium for analysis. The prepared hair slides were subjected to microscopic examination under different magnifications viz. 40X, 100X and 400X. The result of the hair investigation showed marked differences in hair morphology among the three races. The frequency and percentage of distribution of different hair morphology were tabulated and also presented in the form of bar graphs. This pilot study, the first of its kind in Malaysia provided a promising result in hair investigation showing racial discrimination among dominant races in Malaysia and the result of the investigation can be very well used in crime investigation.