Some challenges in forensic fingerprint classification and interpretation

The usage of fingerprints is no longer limited to crime investigation. And automated fingerprint identification systems have been developed for a variety of applications. However, in law enforcement agency manual categorization and analysis are still an indispensible part of fingerprint operation mainly for the following two reasons: (1) Automated fingerprint classification and identification systems are far from perfection. They can help to expedite the identification process, but cannot completely replace human fingerprint experts in terms of identification accuracy; (2) Fingerprint classification can help speed up the automated searching process as fingerprint databases become overwhelmingly large. In this paper, we review existing classification systems, including Henry, Vucetich, Battley, and NCIC classification systems, and look into the challenges of classifying certain ambiguous fingerprints and interpreting latent prints. By reviewing literature and a representative case of fingerprint misidentification, we analyze the objective and subjective factors contributing to erroneous and inconsistent identification.