procedural question

[kaigou]

If the police/authorities bring someone in for questioning, but have not charge the person with a crime, can they take fingerprints? Or is that considered invasive or violating rights or potential self-incrimination if they do so before formally charging the person?

...Not just the US, that is, if you're not US and you have any vague idea of the procedure where you live, then I'd be curious to hear that, too. Mostly because I like police procedural dramas, in any language, and the "we think he's this guy (or he looks just like this other guy)" mistaken identity (or non-mistaken undercover schtick) is a common plot-step the world over, it seems. And since that would so easily be cleared up by a set of freaking fingerprints, I'm wondering when I should see the non-fingerprinting as accurate for a culture, versus a plot-hole.

Comments

[nnayram.livejournal.com]

Depends on the country and on the person. If it were the EU and it was a EU citizen, I believe they might already have the fingerprints on file. My country, a new EU member state, introduced new ID cards that incorporate the fingerprint information in. I had to go the consulate in NYC and have my fingerprints taken when I was renewing my about-to-expire ID card. Technically, you don't have to renew your documentation until it expires, though, so it *is* possible that the information is only on file for people who have had to get new ID cards issued for whatever reason.

Also, certain countries would not require the fingerprints of visitors already in the country since they'd have them on file: see http://stallman.org/bad-border-policy-countries.html.

You might be interested in this wiki article, even though the information is not always mentioned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_identity_card_policies_by_country

[kaigou]

Technically, you don't have to renew your documentation until it expires, though, so it *is* possible that the information is only on file for people who have had to get new ID cards issued for whatever reason.

There is that: any time there's an update to an ID policy, there's always a lag. Although people can fall through the cracks in other ways, like in a Taiwanese drama I watched, where the usual assumption is that (due to mandatory military service), of course the guy would be on file... but he's not, because (as a former homeless person), he was never tracked down and forced to do his military service. So, no records at all on file for him, because he never got entered in the 'expected' manner.

(also, thanks for the links! nomnomnom.)