Thinking forensics: Cognitive science for forensic practitioners

Edmond, Gary; Towler, Alice; Growns, Bethany; Ribeiro, Gianni; Found, Bryan; White, David; Ballantyne, Kaye N.; Searston, Rachel A.; Thompson, Matthew B.; Tangen, Jason M.; Kemp, Richard I.; Martire, Kristy A.

doi:10.1016/j.scijus.2016.11.005

Cited by 66 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 117 publications

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“…Indeed, there are many aspects of psychological and human factors theory that have been applied to other domains that involve human expertise (such as medicine [110] or aviation [111]), or have been used by psychologists to explore or explain human decisions. Edmond et al [112] presented a number of such theories from human perception, memory, expertise, decision-making, communication and feedback in relation to the forensic science process so as to highlight the potential application of these theories within forensic science, encouraging forensic practitioners to engage with such research in order to maximise the outcome of their forensic interpretations. Examples included areas of psychological study such as the fallibility of perception and memory, a tendency for overconfidence, and the specific nature and vulnerabilities of expertise [112].…”

Section: C) Establishing the Presence Of Cognitive Bias Has Become Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cultural change to enable improved decision-making in forensic science: A six phased approach

et al. 2020

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There has been an increased engagement by researchers in understanding the decision-making processes that occur within forensic science. There is a rapidly growing evidence base underpinning our understanding of decision-making and human factors and this body of work is the foundation for achieving truly improved decision-making in forensic science. Such an endeavour is necessary to minimise the misinterpretation of scientific evidence and maximise the effectiveness of crime reconstruction approaches and their application within the criminal justice system. This paper proposes and outlines a novel six phased approach for how a broadening and deepening knowledge of decision-making in forensic science can be articulated and incorporated into the spheres of research, practice, education, and policy making within forensic science specifically, and the criminal justice system more generally. Phases 1 and 2 set out the importance of systematic examination of the decisions which play a role throughout forensic reconstruction and legal processes. Phase 3 focuses on how these decisions can, and should, be studied to understand the underlying mechanisms and contribute to reducing the occurrence of misleading decisions. Phase 4 highlights the ways in which the results and implications of this research should be communicated to the forensic community and wider criminal justice system. Lastly, the way in which the forensic science domain can move forwards in managing the challenges of human decision-making and create and embed a culture of acceptance and transparency in research, practice and education (learning and training) are presented in phases 5 and 6. A consideration of all 6 connected phases offers a pathway for a holistic approach to improving the transparency and reproducibility of decision making within forensic science. 1 CJS decision map 2 Empirical study of decision mechanisms 3 Communicating the outcomes of decision making research 4 Managing risk 5 Education and training 6

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Section: C) Establishing the Presence Of Cognitive Bias Has Become Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

A cultural change to enable improved decision-making in forensic science: A six phased approach

et al. 2020

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“…In Merckelbach and Patihis (2018) we critically evaluated the attempts of Brand et al (2017a, b) to provide advice to expert witnesses who assist triers of fact in understanding dissociative reactions. One point of departure was the broadly felt consensus in the forensic field that expert witnesses should be transparent about their limits (e.g., Edmond et al, 2017). Over the past years, the focus on limits and error rates of experts has gained momentum because empirical data suggest that overconfidence of expert witnesses may contribute to miscarriages of justice (e.g., Saks & Koehler, 2005;Imwinkelried, 2018).…”

Section: Carl Saganmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expert Witnesses, Dissociative Amnesia, and Extraordinary Remembering: Response to Brand et al.

Patihis

Otgaar

2019

Psychol. Inj. and Law

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Brand et al.'s (2018) response-as well as previous works by some of the authors-reveal a recurrent and concerning picture of using lengthy, but flawed, arguments to promote the concept of dissociative amnesia. Our focus here is not so much on the weak-to-moderate correlation between measures of trauma and dissociation-we concentrate more on the weak evidence for dissociative amnesia. If triers of fact accept there is a correlation between trauma and feeling depersonalized or experiencing memory errors, we foresee relatively few legal consequences. However, if the leap is made to accept that trauma causes dissociative amnesia (or dissociative identity disorder) then it opens the door to repressed memory testimony being trusted in the courtroom, which in the past has had negative consequences. The problem with the concept and theory of dissociative amnesia is that there is an easy-to-miss claim of extraordinary remembering that contradicts findings and theories in memory research. Incorrect beliefs in such extraordinary remembering that can have severe repercussions in court. We document some areas of agreement with Brand et al., but reiterate that there is a lack of evidence for the mechanisms proposed in dissociative amnesia.

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“…Technological digital advances provided a new platform for perpetrators to invade our private life and to attack us quietly with their various malicious activities [20]. In general, some researchers have put dedicated efforts to establish and exploit the multi-disciplinary of digital forensic process model [21], while others are dedicated to investigate the potential of anti-forensics tools and techniques [22,23].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carving and Clustering Files in Ram for Memory Forensics

Al-Sharif¹,

Al-Khalee²,

Al-Saleh³

et al. 2018

FJEC

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Memory contains vital information about the current state of a system such as processes, network connections and opened files. The contents of a file can be reconstructed from memory either by following the Operating System's data structures (which might not be always available) or by carving data based on the file's internal structure. Unfortunately, the problem gets more complicated when carving several files with the same internal structure that happen to coexist in memory. This paper carves chunks of a certain file type from memory and employs clustering techniques to distribute these chunks into their corresponding files. As a running example, we carve and cluster different PDF files. The paper employs the wording similarities among related portions and shows that the Hierarchical clustering algorithm facilitates grouping of the recovered text pieces within an adequate accuracy.

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Thinking forensics: Cognitive science for forensic practitioners

Cited by 66 publications

References 117 publications

A cultural change to enable improved decision-making in forensic science: A six phased approach

A cultural change to enable improved decision-making in forensic science: A six phased approach

Expert Witnesses, Dissociative Amnesia, and Extraordinary Remembering: Response to Brand et al.

Carving and Clustering Files in Ram for Memory Forensics

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