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42 Mitchell Hamline L. Rev. 756 (2016)
Challenges to Fingerprint Identification Evidence: Why the Courts Need a New Approach to Finality

handle is hein.journals/wmitch42 and id is 764 raw text is: CHALLENGES TO FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION EVIDENCE: WHY THE COURTS NEED A NEW APPROACH TO FINALITY Sarah Lucy Coopert I. INTRO DUCTION ...................................................................... 756 II. FRICTION RIDGE ANALYSIS: THE 2009 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES REPORT AND RECENT RESEARCH EFFORTS ....... 760 III. JUDICIAL RESPONSES TO FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION EVIDENCE BETWEEN 2009 AND 2014 AND THE INFLUENCE O F FINALITY ............................................................................ 766 A. Judicial Responses Between 2009 and 2011 ...................... 767 B. Judicial Responses Between 2012 and 2014 ...................... 775 C. The Doctrine of Finality .................................................. 777 IV. THE IMPLICATIONS OF FINALITY: LAWYERS,JURORS, AND SCIEN CE ................................................................................. 780 A. Lawyers and Scientific Evidence ....................................... 781 B. jurors and Scientific Evidence .......................................... 785 V . C ONCLUSION ......................................................................... 789 I. INTRODUCTION Fingerprint identification evidence has helped shape thousands of criminal cases in America. For over a century, the practice of matching a crime scene print to an inked suspect print, known as friction ridge analysis, has gained universal acceptance. Proponents of fingerprint identification make three crucial claims: (1) every individual possesses a unique and f Senior Lecturer in Law, Centre for American Legal Studies, Birmingham City University, U.K. Many thanks to my excellent research assistants Aimee Martin, Amna Nazir, and Alice Storey. Thanks also to Dr. Haydn Davies for his encouragement and to Terri Smith for discussing the themes of this paper with me. 1. See Michael J. Saks, Merlin and Solomon: Lessons from the Law's Formative Encounters with Forensic Identification Science, 49 HASTINGS L.J. 1069, 1100-01 (1998).

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