How fingerprints are racist

Banned Histories of Race in America

Innocent Black people in the US are seven times more likely than innocent white people to be wrongfully convicted of murder, sexual assault and other serious crimes. The reasons are mostly what you might guess. Liars on the witness stand, dirty cops and mistaken eye witnesses are the top three. The fourth, however is commonly referred to as “false or misleading forensic science”. This includes disproven procedures like bloodstain pattern analysis, bite mark analysis, dog scent evidence and comparative bullet lead analysis. It also includes fingerprint analysis.

Wait. Why aren’t fingerprints reliable? Because fingerprints are racist.

I know. Surely unique, biologically-designed swirls of skin couldn’t possibly be racist. Well, first of all, fingerprints aren’t what you think. For example, it’s never been proven that fingerprints are unique. The only reason we think they are is because the study of fingerprints is based in on white supremacy, not science.

The first book ever written on the study of fingerprints was published in 1892 by Sir Francis Galton, a British anthropologist, cousin of Charles Darwin and dipshit eugenicist. The only reason Galton began studying fingerprints in the first place was his desperate desire to show differences between racial groups. Fingerprints, however, have nothing to do with racial groups, just as being cousin to Charles Darwin has nothing to do with whether or not one might be a complete fucking idiot.  

The first American criminal trial to use fingerprints as evidence took place in Chicago in 1910. A man named Thomas Jennings was convicted of murder using this “science” and there’s a little context here to consider. First, the Great Migration had just begun, frightening northern whites from coast to coast. The progressive movement reacted by spreading as much scientific racism as far and wide as possible. And, since you’d never be able to set the precedence of such obviously destructive bullshit against a white defendant, as you probably guessed, Thomas Jennings was Black.

Thomas Jennings

But that was a long time ago. Why wouldn’t it work now? We’ve all seen the TV cop shows where they find matching points on fingerprints. Surely the science is sound. How could it not be accurate?

Aside from accidental or deliberate human failings, you should probably know that the required number of matching points can differ wildly not only from state to state but also from town to town. Some fingerprint analysts might go for a twenty-point match, others only for one single point. In fact, fingerprints are such obvious bullshit that some federal judges have been rejecting the very concept for decades.

Anyway, if this post ruined cop shows for you, sorry about that. If not, please read Five Unfortunate Facts about Police and let me know how that goes.  

https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Documents/Race%20Report%20Preview.pdf

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/myth-fingerprints-180971640/

https://www.science.org/content/article/federal-judge-fingerprinting-not-science