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You would think, but even "experts" on fingerprinting call it at best an art. It can be affected by bias[1], and there's no standard for declaring a match[2](sa
by ch4s3 9y ago
You would think, but even "experts" on fingerprinting call it at best an art. It can be affected by bias[1], and there's no standard for declaring a match[2](same case as [1]).
> I could understand things like trying to guess based on similarities with a partial print
That's really the rub, pun intended I guess, there are no clean neatly pressed fingerprints left on object collected by police, generally speaking.
[1]http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368113000028 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368113...
[2]http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fingerprints-infallible-evidence/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fingerprints-infallible-evidence...
- wyldfire 9y agoThe stuff in this thread about fingerprints matching algorithms and DNA lab errors -- does that mean we shouldn't even use it as exculpatory evidence?
- ch4s3 9y agoThe top comment under which my comment falls is about police use of forensic "science". >The big crime is how little epistemological support there is for some of the big forensic tools (fingerprints, DNA, bite marks, arson spread, etc), how little interest there is in researching these areas, and how trusted they are. But I am curious: apart from TV shows, how important is this kind of evidence in most trials? Is it actually uncommon?
- ch4s3 9y agoThe top comment under which my comment falls is about police use of forensic "science". >The big crime is how little epistemological support there is for some of the big forensic tools (fingerprints, DNA, bite marks, arson spread, etc), how little interest there is in researching these areas, and how trusted they are. But I am curious: apart from TV shows, how important is this kind of evidence in most trials? Is it actually uncommon?
- Retric 9y agoIt's easier for evidence to say the person is innocent than guilty. Ex: a blurry video of a white guy. It's in no way enough to show which white person did it, but it is enough to show no black person did.