23/03/07 (UK):
Fingerprint Evidence Flawed
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A recent study claims that fingerprint evidence may not be as reliable as first thought due to the bias of examiners.
A study by psychologist Itiel Dror, of Southampton University, found that fingerprint experts may be biased when they know certain facts about an investigation, that a suspect has already confessed, for example.
He asked six experts with 35 years experience between them to take part in the experiment. They were invited to examine eight cases which they had previously examined. When given a different explanation of the facts of the case, four of the six came up with a different conclusion to the one reached earlier. One expert came to a different conclusion on three of the eight cases, and three other experts reached conclusions which were inconsistent with their earlier findings on one occasion.
Presenting his findings Dr Dror said: "There's no doubt that some of the forensic evidence has led to miscarriages of justice. Fingerprint experts were vulnerable to biasing information when they were presented within relatively routine day-to-day contexts, such as evidence of confession to the crime. What you see or don't see is affected by your expectations." He called for measures to improve experts' training to reduce the risk of bias.
There have also been some recent technical challenges to the previously sacrosanct area of fingerprints, particularly in the U.S., though there is little doubt that this study will draw sharp criticism from some experts, particularly due to the small sample size of only six. But Dr Dror is unrepentant. He points to a high-profile case last year when the US federal government agreed to pay a lawyer £2m to settle part of a lawsuit he filed after the FBI misidentified a fingerprint and wrongly arrested him over the 2004 Madrid terrorist bombings. Brandon Mayfield was arrested in May 2004 after a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators in Madrid was mistakenly matched to him after the train bombings on 11 March that year which killed 191 people and wounded 1,500.
He was jailed on a material witness warrant but was released after the FBI acknowledged the fingerprint was not his.
© X-Pro 2007
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