What is an erroneous identification?

• A. Having someone's fingerprint and saying it is someone else's.
• B. Mislabeling a photograph.
• C. A fingerprint processed incorrectly.
• D. A fabricated witness statement.

Answer: (A)

An erroneous identification happens when the person who committed the crime is wrongly linked to it, or when evidence points to the wrong person. The example given—taking someone else’s fingerprint and stating it belongs to the suspect—fits this idea perfectly. It shows the act of attributing evidence to the wrong individual, which directly leads to identifying the wrong person as the perpetrator.

Mislabeling a photograph is an error in how evidence is labeled, and while it can cause confusion, it isn’t in itself the act of identifying the wrong person. A fingerprint processed incorrectly is a lab or technical error in handling data, not the identification decision. A fabricated witness statement involves deceit, but it’s about fabricating testimony, not the automatic linking of a person to the crime based on evidence.