Discrepancies in expert decision-making in forensic fingerprint examination.

The purpose of the present study was to analyse professional fingerprint examiners' investigative practices in the context of discrepancy decisions concerning challenging latents during fingerprint analysis and identification. The participants were fingerprint experts from the Forensic Laboratory of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation. The data were from five audio-recorded "discrepancy meetings" where two examiners were discussing the rationale and justification for their differing interpretations of challenging and distorted fingerprint evidence.