> what if she cut off her thumb and disposed of it in such a way that it was irretrievable? A contempt charge wouldn't hold any more (probably), but there's pr

> what if she cut off her thumb and disposed of it in such a way that it was irretrievable? A contempt charge wouldn't hold any more (probably), but there's probably another charge that would apply, like spoliation of evidence [sorry, realized that you mentioned that charge further down in your comment]. > It sounds to me like fingerprint authentication is not something a criminal should use if they don't want to get caught. True. > Imagine the criminal held down the power off button for three seconds then swiped, is that a crime? It's also not normally a crime for her to mutilate her thumb or for me to wave a knife around if I believe I'm alone and don't intend to harm anyone. Motive and context matter. > but then again how is not giving a passcode not considered spoliation? The act of making the fingerprint unusable would be the spoliation, I suppose. Not giving the passcode would be protected under the 5th.