My fingerprints were taken by the Virginia State Police when I was summoned to court as a suspect in a misdemeanor crime. I was 15 years old at the time. In court, I didn't enter a plea, and the case was found as evidence sufficient to convict. I had to do community service, then my lawyer went back to court and the case was dismissed. My question is...would my fingerprints be in the AFIS system? I am just curious. I heard that they don't keep records of juvenille fingerprints. So are they in AFIS, or in a state police database, or what? Thanks for any answers!
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12-14-04, 06:53 PM
honilov
This could depend on each state, but but as far as I know, prints of juvenile offenders are not included in the Automated Fingerprinting Identification System. Although juvenile prints are being taken, it could be breaking the law, unless it's a felony.

The state statute allows for youths ages 14 and older who have committed a felony crime to be fingerprinted, but the information is to be kept separate from adult files. If the prints are obtained locally, they are not put into the database used by the crime lab.

Since your case was a misdemeanor I don't understand why your prints were taken in the first place. They could've been breaking the law. By all means, I doubt if your prints are in the database with the adults.

12-14-04, 09:21 PM
DvdGStwrt
FBI has a file on everyone, I mean everyone - anything that is possible to collect goes into your file. It doesn't matter if you were arrested and found to be perfect in every way those finger prints are dumped into the national and International archives.

Doesn't matter if you are a minor or not. Once printed you are on record. I believe some states print you for driver's licenses and other things (not just criminal cases) these too are put into the Federal Data Base.

Not only for the purpose of matching prints in crimes, but in case you die they can ID you with those prints.

Now with the new Homeland Security Laws about Federal ID Biometrics all of us will (sooner or later) be finger printed and retinal scanned and even have our DNA put on record. Right now the new laws will assure us that children born will be automatically DNA sampled, other parts of that expansive bill include a program to switch pass ports and to biometrics and a unified national ID system.

David

12-14-04, 11:01 PM
gerry
Oh so the Feds want my paw prints, hey? Well, they ain't getting mine, and anyone who willingly obliges to do so in the name of Freedom, will one day realize that they truly are not free at all. The terrorists are winning, not by slaughterings, but making us all suspicious of one another. And that 'juvenile' record being sealed is a joke: while it may be sealed from the general public, those with Power ...police, courts, FBI...know all about you.

12-15-04, 04:04 PM
Sarah51
So DvdGStwrt, you're saying they ARE in AFIS, or they're just in some FBI file somewhere. It's ok if they're with the FBI, I just need to know if they would be in AFIS or not.

honilov - I don't know why my prints were taken either. When I went to the state police headquarters to pick up my summons (instead of it being delivered to my house) they fingerprinted me. I was never arrested, and I was never charged with a felony. I was charged with "Giving false information to a police officer regarding a bomb threat to a high school". Since a bomb threat is a felony... could that matter? Would that have made it legal for them to fingerprint me?

Thanks!

12-15-04, 11:16 PM
gerry
I've picked up hundreds of kids at police stations who were runaways or who were thrown out of their house by their parents. Although they committed no crime, they were booked, photographed, and fingerprinted before they were released to me for temporary shelter placement. Was it legal? Doesn't matter, it was done anyway, technically they were arrested under the so called CHINS statute (Child in need of Services)...imagine being booked, arrested, printed, and locked in a cell or holding dungeon until they could be released to a shelter! And not even a misdemeanor involved, never mind a felony! What happens to the prints thereafter, I don't know, but you can bet your boots that their on file with other authorities besides the FBI.

12-16-04, 02:23 AM
DvdGStwrt

quote:Originally posted by Sarah51:
So DvdGStwrt, you're saying they ARE in AFIS, or they're just in some FBI file somewhere. It's ok if they're with the FBI, I just need to know if they would be in AFIS or not.

honilov - I don't know why my prints were taken either. When I went to the state police headquarters to pick up my summons (instead of it being delivered to my house) they fingerprinted me. I was never arrested, and I was never charged with a felony. I was charged with "Giving false information to a police officer regarding a bomb threat to a high school". Since a bomb threat is a felony... could that matter? Would that have made it legal for them to fingerprint me?

Thanks!



When I say FBI I mean all of those alphabet letters. Yes, all finger prints are now on an International and national data base - all finger prints.

As for bomb threat, depending on when - post 9-11 it is a felony.

12-20-04, 08:20 PM
honilov
Sarah here's an interesting article about juvenile fingerprinting in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I think different states and counties do different.

11-03-05, 07:19 AM
PrintedGuy
Everything that I have found on the net since the fbi's iafis went live in 1999 give information that only adults (18 or older) have prints included in the database. The FBI is investigating searching civilian prints (from background checks and a few wanting prints onfile) in the database in future builds.

from what i have learned to date, only adult arrests will have fingerprints included into iafis. if you have been fingerprinted as a juvenile your prints might be included in your local state's afis. From what I gather, they are supposed to be purged if you are found not guilty, etc.

btw, because of multiple background checks, i have my fingerprints in the state afis's of ohio, florida, illinois and the fbi. if my prints are ever searched they will surely hit in no time.

Rule of thumb imho is that once you have been fingerprinted, you likely have your prints onfile for life unless a juvie.

11-03-05, 10:47 AM
MrsS
Automatic DNA sampling of newborns? How utterly chilling....makes home births seem like a better idea just to avoid that....I realize that a lot of folks think "If you have nothing to hide, then there's no problem." I beg to differ, I treasure my basic privacies well above an illusion of security and would do most anything to preserve those rights for a child incapable of preserving them for himself.

11-03-05, 11:34 AM
DorianGreyed
Gee, why not just tattoo a number on everyone? Maybe a bar code? What an efficient system! Why hasn't someone thought of this before? Just think of how easy it will be then to weed out the undesirables.

11-03-05, 12:48 PM
Dwight

quote:
Originally posted by DorianGreyed:
... Just think of how easy it will be then to weed out the undesirables.



Well, OK but I get to be the one who decides who exactly is the "undesirable". I win because I've got first "dibs".

Dwight

11-03-05, 03:54 PM
honilov
Yeah PrintedGuy, that's what I was saying to Sarah. Juvie prints should only be in a state database.

Welcome to answerpool. Smile

12-06-05, 11:41 PM
SeattleRon
ONce your prints are taken you are in the system.
it never goes away. from now on I sugest you either stay straight or wear gloves.
Welcome to Answerpool.

12-08-05, 01:38 PM
lorelei

quote:
Originally posted by PrintedGuy:
Everything that I have found on the net since the fbi's iafis went live in 1999 give information that only adults (18 or older) have prints included in the database.



This makes me wonder...

I worked for the federal gov when I was 16. When I took the job I was required to be finger printed, took an oath... the whole deal. Now, since I was under age, and not actually of legal age to sign a contract or take an oath for that matter, (although I took all of it very seriously) does that mean it shouldn't have been kept after I turned 18?

It never crossed my mind that they would get rid of my finger prints. I always took it for granted that they were kept, and that my prints were on file with the federal gov. And to be honest with you it seems much more likely that once they get prints on file and in the data base they would just keep them there.

Something else has just come to mind. I had my children finger printed durring our local saftey week. They took finger prints, photograps, and indepth descriptions (scars, broken bones, anything that could be a factor in identifying the child). As I recall the paper I signed told me the information would be entered into a database. But would they really throw out the information once my kids turn 18. I doubt it. Not that I mind, but my children might at some point.

I also wonder about juveniles who have been charged as adults. I would assume their prints would stay on file as 'adults' even though they are under the age of 18.

How does one find something like this out? The law seems slightly ambigious about the whole thing. It seems to me that unless it's spelled out very clearly that they would NOT keep the prints of a juvenile, then they wouldn't pass up the chance to keep them on file. Not just for crimes, but also to identify someone for other reasons.

12-11-05, 07:11 PM
MrsS
The fingerprints, DNA samples and physical descriptions of juveniles tried as adults are kept in the National database, but it varies from state to state whether this information is admissable in court after they reach their majority. If such a juvenile is aquitted, that information is supposed to be sealed.
Your prints, since they were volunteered, are there and they'll stay there.
The prints of your children, you'd need to ask the agency who was doing the safety registration event when and if those prints and descriptions come out of the system... because it was voluntary, you very likely waived their rights until adulthood to have that database excluded from criminal investigations or court procedures, but after they turn 18, any half decent defense lawyer could get that information excluded... I hope that never becomes an issue!

Again, details on admissability vary WIDELY from state to state, and nothing you read here should be construed as specific legal advice.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,