The Role Of Fingerprinting In The Criminal Justice System

One of the most common evidence an investigator deals with on a daily basis is fingerprints. Everyone has them, and they are unique to every single person. There are no two alike. Fingerprints, unless altered by scarring or other means, are

We live in a society where large parts of crimes such as; rape, assault, and burglary involve gun violence. One of the newest controversy surrounding the topic of gun control is the procedure known as “ballistic fingerprinting.” The impact of ballistic advancement has played a critical role in unraveling new levels of solving crimes in the criminal justice system. Ballistic fingerprinting specifies to a set strategy that depends exclusively on the imprints that a firearm leaves on a bullet to match it to the gun used to commit the crime. Ballistic fingerprinting requires gun manufacturers to test-fire the firearms they produce and store pictures of the ballistic markings left on the cartridge cases in a database so that law enforcements can

For over a century fingerprints have been one of the most used tools of forensic science. Fingerprints have been used to identify criminals of small crimes

The use of fingerprinting as a means of identification was born out of the need of law enforcement officials to have permanent records that could determine if a convict had been previously arrested or imprisoned. Before the advent of fingerprinting, law enforcement used a number of different methods to try to accomplish this. Ancient civilizations would tattoo or physically maim prisoners. In more recent times, daguerreotyping (that is, photographing) was used, but proved to be less than reliable, because people had the ability to dramatically alter their appearance (Skopitz). As a result, this method too, became obsolete with the discovery of fingerprinting, an absolutely infallible

On the morning of May 6, 2004 Attorney Brandon Mayfield was arrested by the FBI at his office in Portland Oregon for being suspected of involvement in the “March 11, 2004 bombings of four commuter trains in Madrid, Spain that killed 191 people and injured over 2,000 others” due to a fingerprint found on a plastic bag (Sherrer). Fingerprint analysis “has been used to identify criminals for more than one hundred years. The process begins with a deposited, or ‘latent,’ print found at the scene of the crime” (“Fingerprint Analysis”). If the print is detailed enough, fingerprint analysts can visually compare the print from the crime scene to the fingerprints of a suspect. They compare “qualities such as the general shape of the prints, the shape and depth of the ridges in the print, and the length of each ridge” (“Fingerprint Analysis”). It has been said time and time again that no two people’s fingerprints are exactly alike, and that if the latent print and the suspect’s print match, the print must be theirs. This assertion, however, “is not based on any studies, research, or analysis. In other words, there is no scientific basis for the belief that fingerprints are unique to each person” (“Fingerprint Analysis”). The main problem with fingerprint analysis, as with bite mark analysis, is its subjectivity. Instead of “relying on tested scientific methods, the process is mostly based on the subjective beliefs of the analyst” (“Fingerprint Analysis”). This basically means that “because of the lack of validity of the testing and retesting process” and the “overall subjectivity of the process indicates that the analyst is not truly absolutely certain of anything – except the fact that he or she truly believes a match” (“Fingerprint Analysis”). In Brandon Mayfield’s case, the print in question “had been positively identified as Mayfield’s by three highly qualified

In addition, these ridge patterns or also known as the fingerprints produce essential function to our body where these fingerprints allow human beings to have better grip in our daily lives(Champod et al, 2016. pg.1). Consequently, the fingerprint’s unique characteristics have also provided significant functionality to the police agencies in terms of the identifications and individualization. According to the Hawthorme and (Textbook), forensic scientists have established three fundamental principals to fingerprinting throughout the long period of studies which include every finer contains ridge detail which is unique to that finger and no other(no two fingerprints are identical), a fingerprint remains unchanged throughout life, there are general ridge patterns on the fingerprints that can be systematically classified and therefore can be filled and searched(Textbook). These unique aspects or principals of the fingerprints are allowing the police agencies to conduct the criminal investigations and individualizations more efficiently. Even though our recent development in the technology and scientific knowledges have enhanced the usability of the fingerprints in the criminal investigation, the concept of the fingerprint as a individualization is not a newly developed

The automated Fingerprint Identification System is also known as the AFIS within the law enforcement division (FBI, 2010). This system is an important element in the criminal justice system as some of its features encompass the storing of data, encoding, and fingerprint and facial comparison through graphics and other techniques. Law officials many centuries ago in the pursuit of positively identifying someone suspected of guilt have long used fingerprints techniques. Fingerprinting is also used in branches of our government, and in the Pentagon, the authentication method of fingerprints is used permit access to specified zones inside the building. Fingerprints are an effective and very precise method of identification purposes that does not pose

According to Merriam- Webster Dictionary; an impression or mark made on a surface by a person's fingertip, especially as used for identifying individuals from the unique pattern of whorls and lines. One of the most important parts of a forensic investigation is fingerprinting. As fingerprints are unique to each individual, they serve as a highly accurate way for law enforcement agencies to identify a suspect, as well as potentially prove their guilt or innocence. This paper will talk about how a cold case was solved by a fingerprint, the procedures, reasons why the case was not solved at the time of the crime and the results.

“Fingerprint recognition is one of the divorce inference using the impressions made by the minute ridge formations or patterns found on the fingertips. No two people have exactly the same arrangement of the ridge patterns, and the remaining patterns of any one individual unchanged. Fingerprints infallible provide a means of personal identification. Other personal characteristics may change, but not fingerprints”. (1)

Fingerprinting is used for many things, such as a robbery, or at a crime scene. Fingerprints were first discovered in 1870 by Alphonse Bertillon, who was a French anthropologist. In 1892, Juan Vucetich had made the first criminal report using a fingerprint. In 1905 America used fingerprints for identification. When America started using fingerprints for identification they had to match the fingerprints manually when needed. When technology was able to enter fingerprints, and match them with anonymous ones, it helped identification immensely.

At the time, no one had ever attempted to admit fingerprint evidence to court. but this time, in the People v. Jennings case, the Supreme Court of Illinois upheld the fingerprint evidence (Chicago Daily Tribune, 1911). Captain Michael Evans, head of the identification bureau, “swore positively that the print on the fence was that of Jennings” (Chicago Daily Tribune, 1911). Ultimately, the court convicted Jennings of murder and robbery. His words indicated that people in the early twentieth century began to think about fingerprints as credible and reliable means of identificatiofryn of a person. Then, in 1915, Frederick Kuhne wrote The Fingerprint Instructor, and the Scientific American Company published The Fingerprint Instructor in 1916 (Houck & Siegel). It had been written for the use of the Bureau of Criminal Identification, part Police Department of the City of New York. The Jennings case and the first authoritative publication on fingerprinting show that the United States government officials’ and criminalists’ growing faith on a fingerprints ability to identify a person with great

In 1968, James Earl Ray had been identified for the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr 15 days after the shooting had taken place. This was done by running fingerprints that was gathered from the scene of the crime against files containing the fingerprints of other fugitives. The FBI’s fingerprinting system was a lot slower than the modern fingerprinting systems of today, which if were invented would had given the FBI their results within a few hours, rather than waiting for 15 days. Although, the FBI’s fingerprinting system is more advanced than it was in 1968, It still is continuing to advance to the point that the technology allows the police force to be able to retrieve information

Human fingerprints are peculiar, unique, detailed, difficult to change, can be said that it cannot be changed throughout the life except some accident such as bruises or cutting on fingertips (Jain, Prabhakar, and Pankanti, 2001). Fingerprints are the pattern of the crease at put fingertips. They are durable over the life of an individual, furthermore, it is a representative symbol as the person. Everyone has a different pattern of dactylogram and each dactylogram is the one and only the one in the world, it will not repeat or find the same fingerprint from another person even in your own finger (Wertheim, 2011). "It's impossible for people to have identical fingerprints," said Mr. Jones, who now works as a private consultant in Summerfield, Fla. "The study of fingerprints has been around for about a hundred years, and in all that time, two people have never been found to have the same prints." (Connor, 2014) Because of its distinctiveness, fingerprints are widely used in recognizing the identity of the person and it is very accurate to distinguish their identification. For instance, the smartphone such as iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6Plus are using their fingerprints to unlock their own phone. Besides that, automatic biometric systems in the identification card and at the

Fingerprints could exist on various surfaces ranging from easy to pull to almost impossible. The ridges on fingertips hold sweat, protein, salt, and water, which leaves “the fingerprint”

Every time somebody touches something, they leave behind a unique signature that forever links them to that object. This link is their fingerprints, which are unique to every person, for no two people have the same set, not even family members or identical twins. Palms and toes also leave prints behind, but these are far less commonly found during crime scene investigations. Therefore, fingerprints provide an identification process that is applicable to background checks, biometric security, mass disaster identification, and most importantly, crime scene investigations. Fingerprints are so differentiated because they are made up of distinct patterns of ridges and furrows on the fingers. The ridges are the “raised” portions of the prints, and the furrows are the “recessed” portions. This perceived uniqueness has led some people to falsely accept fingerprint analysis as absolute scientific fact. Although overall fingerprints are reliable, there are definitely situations where their accuracy can come into question.