Operational Realities of Fingerprint Evidence: Challenges and Constraints in Pakistan’s Criminal Investigations

This research focuses on the understanding of the institutional, technological, and procedural constraints of fingerprint analysis as an operational challenge to its use in criminal investigations in Pakistan. Based on Locard’s Principle of trace evidence, the study employs a qualitative methodology and includes a sample size of 15 forensic specialists from the National Forensic Science Agency (NFSA), the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA), and the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). Expert interviews were thematically analyzed, resulting in several key concerns, which included an inconsistent forensic environment, out-of-date or lacking equipment, no standardized procedures, inadequate training, and significant contamination or destruction of evidence in the crime scene. All of these factors seriously undermine the accuracy, reliability, and judicial applicability of fingerprint evidence. The results reveal an incongruence between the potential of trace evidence and its actual application, suggesting systemic changes. Ultimately, these findings lead to important recommendations regarding protocol standardization, training on a national level, and urgent updating of forensic equipment in order to better lend the science of fingerprinting to a legal sense of credibility in Pakistan.