Fingerprint evidence – what can be relied on?
Since the 16-point standard for identification was abolished, fingerprint experts have used a non-numeric scale. They use their experience, opinion and a certain number of matching characteristics to present fingerprint identification evidence in court. How many characteristics are deemed sufficient for an identification will depend on a number of factors including, for example, the clarity of the mark and the spatial relationship of other connected marks etc.
One of the fingerprint experts at Keith Borer Consultants, Catherine Tweedy, recently attended a fingerprint conference in the United States where ‘close non-matching’ fingerprints were discussed. Fingerprint examiners were shown a lift known as the Chesapeake mark. All agreed that given the information available they would call a match on the basis of it being a good quality mark with 15 matching characteristics seen. They were then astounded when shown adjacent areas of ridge detail containing major dissimilarities. It was only possible to determine that the Chesapeake mark originated from a different person when a sufficiently large area of ridge detail was viewed, and outlying dissimilar characteristics became apparent.
In much casework, a large area of lift may not be available. It is for this reason that the Chesapeake mark provides a significant challenge to the current accepted basis for evaluation of fingerprint evidence in the UK.
Catherine Tweedy gave a presentation on this topic at this year’s Shrewsbury Criminal Law Conference. If you would like to find out more about ‘close non-matching’ fingerprints, please contact Catherine at our Durham office.
Previous articles on the importance of examining fingerprint evidence in the whole can be found here.
