Criminal Justice and Forensic Science by Lisa Smith John Bond

Author:Lisa Smith, John Bond [Lisa Smith, John Bond]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Criminology, Law, Forensic Science
ISBN: 9781137310279
Google: eJi7BgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Macmillan International Higher Education
Published: 2014-12-12T05:22:04+00:00

One of the most recent suggested changes to expert forensic testimony concerns fingerprint examination. Historically, fingerprints have been presented in court as conclusive ‘matches’ with the ability to identify individuals with levels of certainty not afforded to many other forensic techniques. However, recent high-profile miscarriages of justice caused by faulty fingerprint conclusions have contributed to new guidelines for fingerprint expert testimony. In the UK, the Scottish Fingerprint Inquiry was conducted in response to the erroneous identification of fingerprints belonging to Shirley McKie (this case study was featured in Box 2.13). In the USA, the arrest of Brandon Mayfield in connection with the Madrid bombings on the basis of an incorrect fingerprint identification also contributed to changes in fingerprint testimony (see Box 5.5). As a result of these cases, fingerprint testimony is now presented in court as evidence of ‘opinion’ rather than evidence of ‘fact’. This change acknowledges the subjectivity of fingerprint examinations, and leaves room for interpretation by experts, police and triers of fact in the courtroom.

Box 5.5 The Madrid bombing investigation

In March 2004, bombs were detonated on commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people and injuring over 1800 others. A fingerprint was recovered by the Spanish National Police (SNP) from a plastic bag containing explosives detonators. The fingerprint was searched by INTERPOL, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, which returned 20 potential ‘matches’. An FBI fingerprint expert concluded that the latent print recovered from the bag belonged to Brandon Mayfield, a Muslim attorney in Portland, Oregon, USA. Despite there being no other evidence linking Mayfield to the bombings, covert surveillance was initiated and eventually he was arrested as a material witness. While three FBI fingerprint experts independently verified the fingerprint match, the SNP eventually identified Uohnane Daoud (an Algerian national) as the source of the fingerprint on the plastic bag. Mayfield was subsequently released, after spending over two weeks in custody.

Analysis: An inquest into this case raised important questions about fingerprint examinations, and forensic analyses in general, including how to avoid errors and faulty verifications in the future. There were similar issues raised in this inquest to those in the McKie case (Box 2.13), including the issue of human error and cognitive biases in forensic decision making, which is the topic of the rest of this chapter.

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