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Gudrun Salt
English 1010
Finger Print Analysis
Is Finger Print Analysis accurate in finding the correct person who commented the crime
or is it possible that there can be more than 1 person with a similar print? Will new technology
help find the correct person within minutes and have an accurate match? Does miss handling
evidence play a huge part in the investigations and ruin traces of DNA for law enforcement?
The Canadians have invented a new technology that could harvest enough DNA to
produce genetic identity within 15 minutes. They claimed they can use old evidence that was
stored from a year ago to find an accurate match. Researchers believe this will help cut the cost
down and less time to do research. According to a researcher scientist Maria Viaznikova of the
Ottawa University Heart Institute in Canada told United Press International. "If you wanted to
use blood as a source of DNA, you have fear of contamination, people who don't want to give it,
storage issues, and you have to sign a lot of paperwork to get it,. We can now have DNA reliably
and simply with our method" (Choi, Charles). We will see once this is launch and more testing to
see if this is an accurate path to have a DNA match.
Researchers says there are no identical match on fingerprints. This article can prove this
theory wrong.

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SEATTLE--Only a single piece of evidence linked Portland, Ore., lawyer Brandon

Mayfield to terrorist train bombings in Spain. Yet it was powerful evidence. Not just one
but three FBI examiners concluded that a fingerprint left on a bag of detonators linked to
the March 11 attack that left 191 dead came from Mayfield. As always, they were so sure
of their finding that they called it a 100 percent identification. But the FBI's steadfast
claim of a zero error rate in its fingerprint identifications would be shattered days later
when Spanish police announced that the fingerprint came from an Algerian suspect. In a
stunning reversal, the FBI admitted it was wrong and apologized to Mayfield. The
mistake has tainted the FBI's once-vaunted reputation for fingerprint work. Yet some
legal and forensic experts say the blunder comes as no surprise because the bureau fails
to rigorously train, test and oversee its examiners. (Heath, David)
After Brandon Mayfield been jailed. He requested for another examiner to look at his
finger print. The 2nd examiner found 9 points that match and same with the 3rd examiner. The
thing about the 3 examiners they did not know the story about Mayfield nor did the examiners
knew about each other. Mayfield got convicted to prison. The Article indicated:
Although fingerprint identification is called a forensic science, few examiners at
the FBI or elsewhere are trained scientists. There are no national standards for
becoming a fingerprint examiner. You don't need a college degree. You don't
need a license. You are not required to be certified. The International Association
of Identification does offer certification, but each year--in a discipline that
demands perfection--about half of the professional examiners who take the test
fail, according to Lyla Thompson of the certification board. Most FBI examiners,

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including Terry Green, who first identified Mayfield's fingerprint as a match,

aren't certified. (Heath, David)
Now there is a national testing for examiners to qualify to pass the exam. They also include most
difficult prints to be certified.
In most cases where the evidence are mishandled by forensic examiner or at the crime
scene the evidence been tampered by friends or family members. In this case the parents found
their daughter strangled in the basement and her father picked her up before and called friends
and family members to come over before the police was called. He tempered with evidence, so
the evidence was insufficient.
The question is whether there is a sufficient amount of physical evidence including body
fluids, fingerprints, hair, fibers and handwriting to conclusively determine who sexually
assaulted and strangled the 6-year-old beauty queen and youngest child of John and Patsy
Ramsey. And the looming problem for police and prosecutors, according to forensics
experts, is whether the evidence is in good condition. Or whether lax procedures
including John Ramsey's search of the house eight hours after police were called, his
discovery of his slain daughter and his handling of the body as he carried it upstairs
resulted in key evidence being hopelessly contaminated. (Verrengia, Joseph B)
This case took years of investigations. Not only using finger print, they used other DNA
such as hair, salvia, and handwriting analysis. The Parents were suspects for years and never got
convicted, this murder remains a mystery.
Each article have different side of stories about fingerprint analysis such as; having issues
with crimes that are unsolved due to mishandling evidence and convicting an innocent person

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due to lack of education which was not required. Will the new technology is the way of the
future in trusting accurate results. Time will tell.

Words Cited

Choi, Charles. "DNA Extractable from Fingerprints." UPI. 31 Jul. 2003: n.p. SIRS Issues
Researcher. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.
Heath, David. "Bungled Fingerprints in Spain Bombing Expose Problems at FBI."
The Seattle Times (Seattle, WA). 08 Jun. 2004: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web.
11 Nov. 2014.
Verrengia, Joseph B. "Forensic Evidence." Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO). Feb. 2 1997:
16A-17A. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 11 Nov. 2014.