Police have used fingerprint evidence to catch and convict criminals for
more than 100 years. It’s a commonly used technique in Australia: more than
10,000 fingerprint matches were made in Victoria alone last year.
But in a
recent report, the American Association for the Advancement of Science has questioned the scientific validity of fingerprint analysis.
The report is a reminder that although fingerprinting is an essential tool for investigating crime,
it’s not infallible. We need to minimise the inappropriate application of the “science” of fingerprinting, and reduce repeats of
miscarriages of justice linked to fingerprint analysis that have already occurred.
Most notoriously,
Brandon Mayfield, an American lawyer, was wrongly linked by four fingerprint experts to the 2004 Madrid train bombing. He was arrested and detained for two weeks, before investigators realised that an Algerian man, Ouhnane Daoud, was the real source of the print.
