For over 25 years I have walked through morgues, stood in courtrooms, stared at skulls and listened to silence that told darker stories than words ever could. I have seen cruelty that left marks you cannot see on skin. I have learned what people are capable of when no one is watching. I have learned that justice is not always just. In the end, I was never part of the system. I was only fuel to keep its machinery running.
Over the years, one question has followed me through countless conversations, courtrooms, and conferences: How reliable is a fingerprint? It’s the kind of query that sounds simple but unravels into a tangle of science, technology, and human judgment. That’s why I teamed up with my colleague, Dr. Maria-Louise Morgott, to tackle it head-on in our latest paper, Forensic Fingerprint Analysis: Evaluating Scientific Foundations, Technological Innovations, and Judicial Implications. This blog post pulls out the key threads from that work, offering a detailed rundown for forensic buffs, legal minds, and anyone curious about the gritty reality behind those ridges on your fingertips.