1. Introduction
Fingerprints have been widely used throughout the world as a
means of identification for forensic purposes. Forensic experts
have extensively relied on the premises that fingerprint characteristics
are highly discriminatory and immutable amongst the
general population. For the majority of the 20th century, the
forensic identification of fingerprints has had near unanimous
acceptance as robust forensic evidence, where testimonies
provided by fingerprint experts were rarely challenged and the
philosophical foundations of such testimonies were rarely questioned.
However, in recent times, there has been a number of
questions raised regarding the scientific validity of forensic
fingerprint identification [1–4].
The current wave of scrutiny in North America is largely
associated with the Daubert decision [5] by the Supreme Court in
the USA, concerning expert evidence admissibility. In the 1993
case of Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals [6] a ruling was
made that outlined criteria concerning the admissibility of
scientific expert testimony, based somewhat on criteria used in
the broader scientific community. The criteria for a valid scientific
method were stated as being as follows