Since 2009, fingerprint examiners have found themselves in an uncomfortable situation – trying to explain to courts that what they have been saying for 100 years was exaggerated, but that they still have something meaningful to say. Despite the fact that fingerprints were once the cornerstone of forensic identification, a cascading volume of new studies, science reports, and court decisions have gradually revealed the fallibility of fingerprint evidence. In 2007, the Scottish government launched the Fingerprint Inquiry after detective Shirley McKie was acquitted of perjury in a case dating back to 1997. Flawed fingerprint analysis was the only evidence against her. The Inquiry Report’s findings were published in December, 2011. Among the findings
