Thursday, May 27, 2004

Fingerprint Debate Continues

Just last month, three separate federal appellate courts issued opinions embracing fingerprint analysis as a reliable forensic method.

Just three weeks ago, on the strength of an FBI fingerprint analysis boasting "100 percent positive identification," federal agents arrested Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield on suspicion of involvement in the recent Spanish train bombings. Newsweek quoted an unnamed "top U.S. counterterrorism official" who called Mr. Mayfield's fingerprint "an absolutely incontrovertible match."

One week ago, Mayfield was released after the FBI admitted it wasn't his fingerprint after all.

So as it turns out, the debate is likely to continue. Jim England, our correspondent on Colorado law, has written to draw this discussion in Slate to our attention.

posted by pn at 10:16 PM  

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

Fed. R. Evid. 702: If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise, if (1) the testimony is based upon sufficient facts or data, (2) the testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods, and (3) the witness has applied the principles and methods reliably to the facts of the case.