From: charlie
Date: 6/19/02
Time: 11:15:20 PM
Between the testimony in the Van Damme kidnapping/murder case and the Law and Order program tonight I learned just how subjective fingerprint identification is.
In the Law and Order they pointed out that there are no universal standards or the number of points of ID. The "usual" is about 12 points but ID's are made sometimes on a lot less than that.
The really troublesome area is in partial prints as has been brought out in a couple of recent cases.
I have learned that they--the honest ones--have several people study the prints and see if they come up with the same judgements as the former person did.
But I learned that it possible that a fingerprint "expert" can come behind 3 who say it is not a print and say that it is and then testify to the ID without the cops nor the DA's nor the jury ever learning that three other people refused to ID as the person. A fingerprint expert who is pro-prosecuton can create havoc by these "subjective" ID's that a jury has been told is 100% accurate when it is not even close.
Those of you who watch cases closely like I do, you might want to pay closer attention to the area of fingerprints.
charlie