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Fingerprints have been successfully used by law enforcement agencies and forensic scientists for personal identification for over a century. It is generally accepted that fingerprints are infallible identifiers, but very little scientific research has been done to prove this claim. Thus, some experts doubted that evidence based on fingerprints could be used in courts, since the “patterns” on the fingers are likely to change over time.

“We wanted to answer a question that has plagued law enforcement and forensic science for decades: Do fingerprints change over time?” said Anil Jain, professor emeritus of computer science and technology at the University of Michigan. Using multi-level statistical modeling, we concluded that the accuracy of fingerprint recognition will be stable over time."

Jain worked on this research with his former student Soweon Yoon, now an employee of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology. The scientists used fingerprints from 15,597 subjects who were detained multiple times by Michigan police officers. Their fingerprints were taken over a period of time ranging from 5 to 12 years.

This fingerprint shows those areas that are used to identify a person.

(illustration by Anil Jain).

The results of the analysis showed that the accuracy of fingerprint recognition does not change even if a significant time interval has passed between two fingerprints and the pattern on the fingers has changed slightly.

Experts agree that the study highlights one of the most fundamental issues in fingerprint identification and has major implications for forensic science, law enforcement and judicial systems, even though the immutability of fingerprints was previously taken for granted.

The study also confirms the accuracy of automated fingerprint identification systems. Despite the fact that operational practice has shown that papillary patterns on the arms and legs are very stable and can only be changed by damage to the skin (for example, scars), this scientific work has provided comprehensive empirical and statistical evidence that criminologists are right.

Overall, the most common cause of inaccurate identification was poor quality prints. Faded images led to the largest number of errors.

Jain and Yun's scientific article was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Asked 2012-02-23 14:54:26 +0400 in the topic "Criminal Law" from Moscow

Tell me, please, how can a criminal forge his fingerprints? What if we know for sure that he committed the theft?

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Answers (1)

To the question of how to change fingerprints for a while? given by the author Cruzeiro the best answer is You will not be able to change the papillary pattern on the palms of your hands so that your handprints cannot be identified, much less temporarily. For identification (positive), it is necessary that 18 signs coincide and there are no unexplained discrepancies (those that the expert could not explain by objective factors, for example, an attempt to change the drawing). The point is that the signs of ethics in the papillary pattern are up to x. i.e. a lot. Suppose you eliminate some of them with the help of physical influence, but others will remain, and the expert will not attach any importance to this if he does not find some fragments of the pattern. Now, if you could introduce DIFFERENT features into the pattern, then the conclusion would be negative, but this is precisely what is impossible. you can simply destroy the pattern that exists (for example, with temperature or aggressive substances), but again you cannot destroy it all - something will remain. Now there are research methods not only by the papillary pattern (for example, it may not be printed if the hands are too dry or, on the contrary, too oily), identification is now possible by the pattern of pores, of which there are plenty on the skin of the hands, and this pattern is also very individual. So the answer is no)
Source: professional experience from my previous job as a criminologist

Answer from chattering[guru]
Very simply, dip your fingers in a vessel with acid, say sulfuric acid, for four minutes.
Temporary change of fingerprints is guaranteed to you

Answer from expose[newbie]
not for a while. forever is possible - the burn is severe, for example

Answer from Refractories[guru]
put on gloves

Answer from Protohistory[guru]
Fingerprints cannot be changed temporarily. You have already been told how this can be done. But why such sacrifices? If you are accused of something, then contact a good criminal lawyer. Do not forget that fingerprints are not the only evidence in a criminal case business. If fingerprints are not found at the crime scene, but there are other traces of the crime, then in accordance with Article 88 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, all evidence collected in a criminal case is assessed by the court in the aggregate; on the basis of Article 229 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the court renders a verdict (indictment or acquittal, or a decision to terminate the criminal case for reconciliation of the parties and on other grounds). What do fingerprints have to do with it - you don’t know other evidence, for example, oderological traces of a crime or microparticles? Why do you ask this question all the time? By changing the fingerprints for a while, what will this give? The relief of the papillary pattern will be restored and fingerprints will be taken again, so the proof is ready for you. It can be changed - a traumatic burn. You won the dispute. Lawyer Efimova L.V. .

Answer from rationalistic[newbie]
Very simple. You cast the fingerprint you need from special silicone and stick temporary new fingerprints on yours and everyone else’s. Two-component silicone is commercially available, and flares can be made from plasticine... or based on someone else's print.

Answer from fluid[newbie]
Good afternoon Tell me, my situation is the following. My friend took a fur coat and gold from another friend (while the latter was vacationing at sea and left her the keys in her care). The money was needed urgently. A friend came from the sea and didn’t notice it was missing right away until a month later. I immediately reported the theft to the police. Then I called my friend to ask her to return the fur coat and gold. She returned it. She offered money for compensation, but she refused. I didn’t take the statement from the police. What to do in such a situation.

Answer from Confessional[newbie]
My friends stole a car, then they gave it to me, I came in, sat, smoked, went out, and my friend went to put it in the place where it was stolen, they ended up driving the police, grabbed us and found MGI prints and theirs, of course, plus it was stolen and I don’t know what will happen.

Something has happened to my memory - I remember everything that was not with me

This work had to be divided into two, and it seems that she did not benefit from this.

Modified fingerprints:
challenging law enforcement identification measures

With assistance from the FBI Justice Information Services Unit
Behind the scenes expert support group

For nearly a century, law enforcement agencies have used fingerprints for personal identification. Criminals are trying to deceive fingerprint identification systems and hide criminal history, including those related to deportation. They use a variety of methods to thwart law enforcement, but no matter what method they use, their motives are the same.
FBI fingerprint experts have encountered situations in which criminals, including those in the country illegally, have deliberately altered their fingertips, either on their own or with the help of medical professionals, in the mistaken belief that doing so will prevent law enforcement from determining their true identity.
In 2014, the FBI's Justice Information Services (CJIS) unit conducted an investigation of altered fingerprint records that were stored in the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), which became the Next Generation Identification (NGI) system as of September 7, 2014. FBI fingerprint experts identified 412 fingerprint entries in IAFIS that showed evidence of intentional alteration. Checking these records for patterns revealed that courts in Massachusetts had already dealt with people who had changed their fingerprints, as did courts in New York, Texas, California and Arizona.
Most of the people who changed their fingerprints had previous drug arrests, followed by immigration, theft and violent crimes. Almost all of them had an extensive history of offenses and various run-ins with law enforcement. Many of them were deported and changed their fingerprints to re-enter the United States.
CJIS classified the altered fingerprints based on the suspected method of altering the fingerprint. The most common distortion methods are vertical cutting or shearing, followed by zigzag cutting, deliberate burning, and unknown or unclassifiable methods.
A vertical cut or slice alters the fingerprint with a scar or deformation. The person cuts the middle of the fingertip, leaving a fairly even cut in the middle of the print. In some cases, the skin near the cut is pulled in different directions to create an unusual print pattern when the finger heals.

Vertical cut or slice

The purpose of the zigzag cut is to change the natural pattern of the print to an unnatural one by scarring and deforming. As in the case of a vertical cut or cut, a person cuts the tip of the finger, only in this case he does it in a zigzag.

Zigzag cut

Heat or chemicals may be used to burn the fingertip, this method is intended to create a scar or destroy the design. If the affected area is small, fingerprint experts may use other areas of the finger that contain enough pattern to establish identity.

Burn method

Suspects using an unknown method of alteration resort to various tricks. This may involve biting or using sandpaper to remove the skin projections needed for identification. In this case, law enforcement officers must print as many details of the finger as possible, including the areas below the first knuckle.

Unknown method

When law enforcement officials report altered fingerprints, they help CJIS significantly expand its knowledge base about the phenomenon and ensure a high level of accuracy in identification. CJIS works with all levels of law enforcement to keep them informed of fingerprint modifications and improve identification techniques. If the fingerprinter notices something unusual about the fingers or prints themselves, or if the prints are not processed as faulty, do not give up: perform a visual inspection of the pattern and contact CJIS.

The criminologists of the Miami laboratory encountered the problem of altered fingerprints in episode 1x06 “Broken.”
Having received the criminal's prints, forensic scientists were unable to establish his identity using the AFIS system, although they were practically convinced that this criminal had been previously involved - the crime was committed too confidently and brazenly to assume that this was the first criminal experience of this subject. However, no matches were found in the system.

But then they came up with the idea that the prints were deliberately distorted by the criminal himself. The fact is that in the United States there is a system for registering people who have committed sex crimes. People with convictions for serious crimes, in particular for pedophilia, are assigned the highest third level of danger in this system. This means that not only the police, but also all neighbors, as well as nearby institutions: children's parks, cafes, attractions and schools will be aware of the history of this person's crimes. And the only way to avoid this is to hide from the system by changing your fingerprints.

And with a chemical burn, the papillary lines would be smoothed evenly.

The assumption that the criminal transplanted someone else's prints into himself did not stand up to criticism: someone else's skin simply would not have taken root. And if he transferred prints from one finger to another, it would not give him anything, because the prints would still be recognized by the identification system.
Then criminologists began to assume that the criminal had created a kind of Frankenstein out of himself: he not only cut off the skin from his fingers and grafted it onto others, but also cut it into small pieces and mixed it. Given the number of nerve endings in the fingertips and the supposed pain of such a procedure, criminologists decided that they were dealing with a very dangerous criminal, since he would do such a thing just to continue his criminal activities.
They began piecing together the original prints like a puzzle.

Of course, this print ended up in the AFIS system, since it really belonged to a dangerous pedophile criminal, who had already killed more than one girl.