The Unwritten Laws of American Fingerprinting

Abstract

The opprobrious state of fingerprinting has prompted the need for serious methodological revision. A chronological examination of the development of fingerprinting reveals that the unchallenged historical premises of individualization in matching protocols led to the superficial evolution of collection and identification techniques that not only lack purposeful systemization and standardization, but are comparatively absent of the same scientific rigor found elsewhere in forensic science. In light of the new evidential requirements created under the Daubert Standard and the follies demonstrated in significant miscarriages of justices, fingerprinting processes must be steeled to avoid being a biometric anachronism. To bolster its adjudicative and scientific validity, fingerprinting should become a multimodal fusion examined in accordance with a unified organizational process. Findings similarly must be reported using Bayesian statistics whereby relative error rates are given and should be judged circumstantially, decreasing their evaluative weight. As the remedies to validity already pertain to exist, the challenge remains largely in their utilization in social systems.