Distribution of the minutiae in the fingerprints of a sample of the Spanish population.

One of the fundamental aspects of the process of identification through fingerprints is the comparison of the minutiae between the fingermark obtained at the scene of the crime and the suspect's corresponding finger. There is no scientific basis in this process that allows the use of numerical standards, such as those kept in different countries, to obtain the identification. The recent mistakes made in the field of dactyloscopy, together with the growing rigor and scrutiny that forensic evidence undergoes in the legislative and scientific areas, have resulted in the need to reconsider some of the basic principles that support this discipline.