Criminal Cases With Identical Twins?

Finger prints would be different. Wearing gloves might stop that, except that prints are then on the inside of the gloves.

The twin that didn't commit the crime, but worked to hide the real criminal during the investigation is guilty of conspiracy.

In the case I worked, one twin had a chipped tooth from a prior fight with police. I was able to identify the real suspect in the court room from that chipped tooth. The twin was at the defendant's table in the front of the court room sitting next to the lawyer. The real suspect was three rows back, in the audience and smiling with the chipped tooth right out front. Surprised the lawyer, the twins, and the judge. They immediately changed their plea to guilty.

hillbilly

An interesting question. This covers al lot of ground and many variables are involved, but I'd say that they would have to work together to fool the authorities, but then if they did that, it would be criminal conspiracy for both of them which is a serious crime in itself and they both could go to jail on that charge alone. Maybe then the innocent one would "rat out" the other one so as to save himself. :-)

Bob D

In the scenario you describe, assuming that the twins are identical in every way, the only way to determine the guilty party would be through something called, Brain Finger Printing

It depends, if one twin committed the crime and the other twin was not present, then brain fingerprinting could make the determination. However, if both twins were present at the crime scene and saw the crime unfold, even brain fingerprinting technology might not be able to make the correct determination.

Brain fingerprinting works on the principle that the criminal has specific knowledge of the crime and its details. When you show a criminal the crime scene or evidence that the criminal recognizes, there is a brain wave signal, P-300 wave, that fires in the criminal's brain "automatically," without conscious control. The criminal cannot stop this from happening. And the innocent twin would not have such knowledge; thus, the crime scene or evidence wouldn't stimulate the firing of the P-300 wave in their brain.

Brain fignerprinting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_fingerprinting

Also see: Iowa Supreme Court overturns 24 year old conviction of Terry Harrington, Brain Fingerprinting Test aids in the appeals ...

February1

You assume that the twins would work together to confuse the issue of guilt. That's not necessarily so. If one twin presents an iron clad alibi, the other twin is in the lurch. Also, twins don't have identical finger prints. So, it depends on what evidence is available to the police.

You also assume that no witness could tell them apart. Again, not necessarily so. I went to school with identical twins, once I got to know them, I had no trouble telling one from the other. So, it might depend on who the witnesses were.

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