How Good Are Fingerprints As ID?

I had not heard this when it came out earlier this year, but a study has shown that fingerprints are not infallible as ID as we have all been taught.

Indeed, the US Government called for a study to review the error rate of fingerprints as forensic evidence, only to have it called off when the Justice Department and Department of Defense demanded that they alone be able to control who could see the results.

See...that says to me that they recognize that fingerprints are NOT as good as we thought for indentifying people, and would call into question many criminal cases decided on the forensic evidence alone.

I'm a little disturbed by all this. Honestly, if we made a mistake, then fine, we need to face up to it. What would the Dept. of Justice have to lose from this? But why try to hide what's true or control access to the truth? It makes no sense to me.