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Faulty Fingerprinting Analysis Results in Innocent People Being Wrongfully Accused

By Walin & Klarich

After an internal investigation by the LAPD, LAPD officials recently acknowledged that two innocent people were wrongfully accused of committing crimes after they were erroneously identified by LAPD fingerprint experts! Even more alarming is the fact that LAPD officials acknowledge that several other individuals were likely wrongfully accused in the past as result of faulty fingerprinting analysis, but they do not have the resources to pay for a thorough audit to find out just how many. Many in law enforcement had been of the opinion that forensic matches made by fingerprint experts were ?airtight.? This investigation would seem to challenge that notion. Moreover, critics point to poor oversight of the LAPD?s Latent Print Department, lack of funding, and overall poor work, as the direct cause of the faulty fingerprinting analysis uncovered in the investigation, It will definitely be interesting to see how many more individuals will be vindicated as a result of the revelation of more faulty fingerprinting analysis...continue to full post

Full post as published by Southern California Criminal Defense Blog on November 12, 2008 (boomark / email).