The Scientific Working Group* on Friction Ridge Analysis, Study and Technology (SWGFAST) worked with the International Association for Identification, West Virginia University, and others — more than 50 experts — over nearly a ten-year period to create The Fingerprint Sourcebook a fifteen chapter guide which “aims to be the definitive resource on the science of fingerprint identification.”
The sourcebook can be downloaded in PDF format either by individual chapters or as one document.
Although some media reports would lead you to believe that latent print evidence examination is outdated and being totally replaced in forensic science by DNA, this is untrue. In fact, Both DNA and latent print evidence are useful for identification and are valuable in criminal investigations. Each has unique properties.
Each of these areas of forensic science also has problems and challenges that we must face — in fingerprint examination, these challenges include lack of equipment, backlogs, the need for greater support for training and certification, the need for interoperability between databases and more.
New research and developments in this field continue to add to the value of fingerprints as evidence.
*You can learn more about the Scientific Working Groups and Technical Working Groups from this article in Forensic Magazine, and also from the FBI site on SWGs and the NIJ site on TWGs.
