Acquired Characteristics
Definition
Individual characteristics that develop after manufacture through use, wear, damage, or corrosion. A new shoe has only class characteristics; a worn shoe accumulates acquired marks that may make it unique.
Related terms
- Class Characteristics
- Features deliberately or systematically imparted to a group of items by design or manufacture, such as the calibre of a bullet, the...
- Comparison Microscopy
- A technique in which known and questioned samples are viewed simultaneously through split or adjacent fields in a single instrument. Used in...
- Elimination Sample
- A known reference sample collected from someone who had legitimate access to a scene or item, used to separate their class and...
- Individual Characteristics
- Surface features on a fired bullet or cartridge case that arise from random or unique events (tool wear, corrosion, service damage) and...
- Source Attribution
- The inferential step of linking a trace to its donor. Serology identifies blood as human and potentially as a specific genetic type;...
Explained in
- Class versus Individual CharacteristicsIndividual characteristics that develop after manufacture through use, wear, damage, or corrosion. A new shoe has only class characteristics; a worn shoe accum...