Skip to content

Latent print comparison and examiner conclusions: A field analysis of case processing in one crime laboratory

Journal: Forensic Science International
Published: 2021
Primary Author: Brett O. Gardner
Secondary Authors: Sharon Kelley, Maddisen Neuman
Research Area: Latent Print

Scholarship on the latent print comparison process has expanded in recent years, responsive to the call for rigorous research by scholarly groups (e.g., National Academy of Sciences, 2009; President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2016). Important to the task of ultimately improving accuracy, consistency, and efficiency in the field is understanding different workflows and case outcomes. The current study describes the casework completed by a latent print unit in a large laboratory during one calendar year (2018), including a unique workflow that involves Preliminary AFIS Associations reported out as investigative leads. Approximately 45% of all examined prints were deemed to be of sufficient quality to enter into AFIS, and 22% of AFIS entries resulted in potential identifications. But examiner conclusions and AFIS outcomes (across three AFIS databases) varied according to case details, print source, and AFIS database. Moreover, examiners differed in case processing, sufficiency determinations, and AFIS conclusions. Results are discussed with respect to implications for future research (e.g., comparing these data to case processing data for other laboratories) and ultimately improving the practice of latent print examination.

Related Resources

Does image editing improve the quality of latent prints? An analysis of image-editing techniques in one crime laboratory

Does image editing improve the quality of latent prints? An analysis of image-editing techniques in one crime laboratory

Field research within latent print comparison has remained sparse in the context of an otherwise growing body of literature examining the discipline. Studies examining how ACE-V procedures are implemented within…
Modeling Covarying Responses in Complex Tasks

Modeling Covarying Responses in Complex Tasks

In testing situations, participants are often asked for supplementary re- sponses in addition to the primary response of interest, which may in- clude quantities like confidence or reported difficulty. These…
Analyzing spatial responses: A comparison of IRT- based approaches, Conference Presentation

Analyzing spatial responses: A comparison of IRT- based approaches, Conference Presentation

We investigate two approaches for analyzing spatial coordinate responses using models inspired by Item Response Theory (IRT). In the first, we use a two-stage approach to first construct a pseudoresponse…