Hall & Player

• Background:

  • pressure fingerprint experts are under may affect results
  • may be given a short deadline— speed up process- less accurate
  • context of a crime can affect results
  • serious crime- may hope match is ‘correct’
  • may feel strong emotions towards the crime- increased likelihood of getting a ‘match’ for the crime
  • experts may be biased
  • emotional context based on the nature of the crime
  • more emotive— more motivated analysts are
  • Schiffer & Champod (2007)
  • effects of case context and pre-exposure to the latent mark
  • found neither affected the accuracy of analysis by forensic science students
• Aim:

  • Metropolitan Police Fingerprint Bureau gives fingerprint experts assigned to a case, a copy of the crime scene examination report which provides details of the nature of the crime. Aimed to:
  • the fingerprint experts were emotionally affected by the case details in the report
  • emotional context would bias the judgements of expert analysis
• Participants:

  • 70 fingerprint experts working for Metropolitan Police Fingerprints Bureau.
  • Experience ranged from less than 3 months to over 30 years
  • mean= 11 years
  • all volunteers