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this post was submitted on 13 May 2026
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I had a relative who worked at a parole and probation office. There were a pair of twins who had a long history of covering for eachother (which the courts had become well aware of) and one got a sentence including probation. Since twins have the same fingerprints, they were required to provide a DNA sample at every court-mandated probation meeting to prove that the correct twin showed up to every required probation meeting
DNA sample of identical twin doesn't work. It is identical. They started as one individual and split into two.
The only way to tell them apart is if one of the brother has a distinguishable difference in scars, dentistry, etc.
Dang I must be misremembering the specifics then!
Edit: looks like fingerprints are in fact different for identical twins so it must've been that they got fingerprinted on every visit (which is much more realistic for a parole and probation office to collect and test on-site, whereas DNA would have to be sent for processing which would presumably take days or weeks)
I only heard the tale secondhand like a decade ago so not surprising that some specifics got mixed up
TIL identical twins can't (in most cases) be differentiated using DNA.
Identical twins - one egg + 1 sperm that splits into two after fertilization aka clones. This happens randomly in the population.
Fraternal twin - Two different eggs + 2 different sperm from daddy. They are siblings that happen to share a uterus. This genetic in some families.
Semi-identical twins - One egg + 2 sperm. The egg splits before it is fertilized. The genetically identical eggs are fertilized by different sperm. Freaky huh....