Deciding whether two fingerprint marks originate from the same source requires examination and
comparison of their features. Many cognitive factors play a major role in such information processing. In
this paper we examined the consistency (both between- and within-experts) in the analysis of latent
marks, and whether the presence of a ‘target’ comparison print affects this analysis. Our findings showed
that the context of a comparison print affected analysis of the latent mark, possibly influencing allocation
of attention, visual search, and threshold for determining a ‘signal’. We also found that even without the
context of the comparison print there was still a lack of consistency in analysing latent marks. Not only
was this reflected by inconsistency between different experts, but the same experts at different times
were inconsistent with their own analysis. However, the characterization of these inconsistencies
depends on the standard and definition of what constitutes inconsistent. Furthermore, these effects were
not uniform; the lack of consistency varied across fingerprints and experts. We propose solutions to
mediate variability in the analysis of friction ridge skin.