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Fingerprint evidence as opinion

Fingerprint Inquiry · The Fingerprint Inquiry Report · Issued 14 December 2011 · Addressed to: Scottish Government

Government responseScottish Government: Noted (Dec 2011)

DeliveryNo statement from Scottish Government found

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation, Chapter 43; Para 35.132

Fingerprint evidence should be recognised as opinion evidence, not fact, and those involved in the criminal justice system need to assess it as such on its merits.

Fingerprint Inquiry, The Fingerprint Inquiry Report · 14 Dec 2011 Source PDF, page 741 →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The Inquiry recommended treating fingerprint evidence as opinion rather than fact in criminal proceedings. In December 2011, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill stated that advances had occurred in forensic services and expressed confidence that the recommendations would enhance them, without mentioning fingerprint evidence or its assessment on its merits (Kenny MacAskill response, Dec 2011).

Sources

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 1 Oct 2026.

About this summary
This recommendation asks for cultural or behavioural change, which is difficult to verify from published sources alone. The record above reflects policy commitments rather than measured outcomes.

Report-level response context

The Scottish Government's news release of 14 December 2011, the day the report was published, is its only published statement on the recommendations. Its one sentence about them is given for all of them together and states no position. The Scottish Police Services Authority's release of the same day accepts "all of the recommendations made of it by the Inquiry" without listing them; the site records that on the recommendations addressed to its forensic service. The Authority no longer exists, and the site files its words under the Scottish Police Authority, which took over its forensic services in 2013.

Government response

●Scottish Government · Noted · 14 Dec 2011

Words of: Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary, in a Scottish Government news release, 14 December 2011

We should all recognise that there have been significant advances in the delivery of Scotland's forensic services since the McKie case, and I am confident that the recommendations from this Inquiry will further enhance these services.

Response document: Fingerprint Inquiry

Delivery

No statement on delivery from Scottish Government has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.