The Policy Implications of Research on Fingerprint Examination Tasks

Abstract

Most fingerprint comparisons are still done by human examiners, who examine two impressions to determine the amount of perceived detail in agreement. Examiners must rely on their training and experience to determine whether the quality and quantity of detail in agreement is sufficient to warrant an identification decision, which makes their perceptual and decision-making abilities central to our understanding of the strength of fingerprint evidence. Research on latent print examiners has documented the influence of configural processing, greater working memory, and greater consistency of eye gaze among experts relative to novices. All of these lead to universally higher accuracy relative to novices. However, examiners must contend with fatigue and the problem of non-mated prints that are somewhat similar in appearance. Surprisingly, this problem only gets worse as databases increase in size. Currently, the field contends with a relatively high number of erroneous exclusions and inconclusive decisions, which may allow a potentially guilty suspect to remain free from charges. We discuss policy implications that follow directly from the research and suggest future research directions that address unresolved issues.