Touching objects is actually what we do every single day in our life whether it’s a doorknob, a

mobile phone, or a bottle of water. Not everyone realizes that we actually leave our signature behind
every time we touch those things. The fact that fingerprints are unique and belong to a specific person
allows them to be used in all kinds of activities: unlocking devices and signing a contract. Nowadays, the
majority of people are using fingerprints as part of their evidence in the court because it can be used to
determine a person who takes part in the crime scene. Even though there are a great number of cases
solved by fingerprints, some groups of people still do not consider fingerprints as a reliable proof. Due to
this reason, the conviction should not be based on the fingerprint alone as we have to take other factors
into consideration as well. Although the majority of people have trusted that fingerprint is a crucial piece
of evidence, it actually has both advantages and disadvantages.

Fingerprints are full of secrets that are waiting to be discovered and revealed. But nowadays,
human fingerprints have been used widely in various fields. The reason is that fingerprints are inherent to
humans from birth and will never change until the end of life. Also, no one in the world has the same
fingerprints or it can be said that fingerprints are used to identify the uniqueness of each person.
Fingerprints can be played as one of the pieces of evidence in the court. For this reason, there are lots of
advantages to using fingerprints. Fingerprints can be used to verify and prove the identity of the owner of
the fingerprints. It is used in personal management such as scanning to verify fingerprint entry and exit,
accessing the control area by using fingerprints, confirming voters, and confirming electoral rights
through the fingerprint scanner. Moreover, it is used in terms of security and privacy. It allows only the
owner of the fingerprints to operate the device such as a mobile phone. It is also used in biometrics
technology for collecting information of people traveling in and out of the country, such as scanning
fingers to pass through (Hassan M. 2019). Besides the usefulness of fingerprints in everyday life, the
fingerprint is a useful tool to identify suspects and murderers in crime scenes. Fingerprints are useful to
inspect the body of an unknown. It can identify their personal information. The fingerprints can check the
history of a person's punishment and their behavior. It can verify who the fingerprint belongs to if
someone assumes others’ fingerprints. Furthermore, it can be used to examine whether this person has
been detained or escaped from prison or not. Lastly, it is used in the immigration office to control the
foreigners who enter the country. (G. ,2020)

Although fingerprints have multiple usages and benefits, there are drawbacks to their implications
as well. Nowadays, personal information is what large companies and governments want the most, to
gather records of people’s day-to-day activities. Even though those data might create a positive influence
on one’s life, for instance, easily accessible information for registration, people are still aware that their
fingerprints may get exposed and illegally used to expel them socially. Thus, various groups of people are
conscious of providing fingerprints as a part of the evidence. However, there are several ways to prevent
them via a stronger security system and more advanced technology. Recently, in the year 2018, Thailand
has updated data privacy law to the standard of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law, the
world’s new legal standard on data privacy and related regulations, to prevent personal data from leaking
(Website, n.d.). Since the penalty for violators is heavily imposed, it can be ensured that the use of
fingerprints in murder cases in court is safe and secured. Another highly arguable topic related to the
usage of fingerprints in court cases is that it is fragile, can easily be contaminated which can destroy its
accuracy. Nevertheless, on the other hand, according to the experiment done by Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, the process of blind verification using
latent prints is highly effective, as false positives were made at the rate of 0.1% (Ulery et al., 2011).
Regardless of other factors associated with the accuracy of fingerprints, such as the clarity of the picture,
0.1% is a tremendously low percent and is a confirmation that if latent prints were being used in murder
cases, it will most likely give out the precise results.

In conclusion, as we have mentioned, fingerprints are totally helpful as one of several pieces of
proof for possible conviction in a murder case. Despite the fact that there are some cases in which
fingerprints cannot be reliably used, we believe that the proportion of those can be neglected. The fact that
fingerprints are specified to each individual strengthens the reason why it should be used in court to
confirm the suspected murderer. Although there are cases like partial fingerprints that can give wrong
results, when all possible fingerprints are matched with the database along with other evidence, the right
result might still be revealed. Therefore, we strongly believe that fingerprints can be used in a murder case
in court.
Resources
1. Website. (n.d.). Retrieved January 7, 2021, from

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30344739

2. Ulery, B. T., Austin Hicklin, R., Buscaglia, J., & Roberts, M. A. (2011). Accuracy and

reliability of forensic latent fingerprint decisions. Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences of the United States of America, 108(19), 7733.