"the error rate of fingerprint analysis can be 10% or more"

[Steve Everist]

Here's the entire paragraph the quote came from, in an article mostly being critical of DNA analysis:

Compared to fingerprinting, a DNA match is far more reliable. According to a study done by the Minnesota Board of Criminal Apprehension, even with high-quality prints in a low-stress, anonymous environment, the error rate of fingerprint analysis can be 10% or more. We would expect the rate to be much higher in real criminal investigations due to stress. Unlike DNA electrophoresis, which is mostly quantitative, fingerprint analysis is highly subjective.

Entire article here: http://blog.timesunion.com/kaczynski/ta ... h-dna/355/

[sharon cook]

This is from a blog? Well, it MUST be true, then!

[Michele]

Here's the reference they site.

5.The number cited is from the preliminary study of 176 fingerprint analysts by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (Langenburg et al, [2010 draft] Informing the Judgements of Fingerprint Analysts Using the Quality Metric and Statistical Assessment Tools: http://projects.nfstc.org/ipes/posters/ ... ummary.pdf ; data in tables 2 and 3. Note false negatives are in fact higher than false positives; there’s several factors in this study, please feel free to ask questions.)

[Boyd Baumgartner]

"I voted against a point standard before I voted for it" - John Kerry, King of the IAI Standardization Committee

[briano]

Boyd, where is that quote from?

[Bill Schade]

Boyd, reminds me of other famous quotes

"I did NOT count points on that Identification of Ms Lebowski"
Latent Examiner Bill Clinton


to which the chairman of SWGCID (Scientific Working Group for Consistency in Definitions) asked

"Can you define what you mean by Points?"