What made us ever think we could individualize using statistics?

Stoney, David A.

doi:10.1016/s0015-7368(91)73138-1

Cited by 91 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…There has been discussion (24,26,27) regarding the appropriateness of using qualified conclusions in investigation or testimony. The effects of qualified conclusions could be assessed in this study, as "inconclusive with corresponding features" (SI Appendix, section 1.5).…”

Section: False Positivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accuracy and reliability of forensic latent fingerprint decisions

Ulery

Hicklin

Buscaglia

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

299

339

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The interpretation of forensic fingerprint evidence relies on the expertise of latent print examiners. The National Research Council of the National Academies and the legal and forensic sciences communities have called for research to measure the accuracy and reliability of latent print examiners' decisions, a challenging and complex problem in need of systematic analysis. Our research is focused on the development of empirical approaches to studying this problem. Here, we report on the first large-scale study of the accuracy and reliability of latent print examiners' decisions, in which 169 latent print examiners each compared approximately 100 pairs of latent and exemplar fingerprints from a pool of 744 pairs. The fingerprints were selected to include a range of attributes and quality encountered in forensic casework, and to be comparable to searches of an automated fingerprint identification system containing more than 58 million subjects. This study evaluated examiners on key decision points in the fingerprint examination process; procedures used operationally include additional safeguards designed to minimize errors. Five examiners made false positive errors for an overall false positive rate of 0.1%. Eighty-five percent of examiners made at least one false negative error for an overall false negative rate of 7.5%. Independent examination of the same comparisons by different participants (analogous to blind verification) was found to detect all false positive errors and the majority of false negative errors in this study. Examiners frequently differed on whether fingerprints were suitable for reaching a conclusion.

show abstract

Section: False Positivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accuracy and reliability of forensic latent fingerprint decisions

Ulery

Hicklin

Buscaglia

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

299

339

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Stoney pointed out [16] that it is not possible to assess uniqueness by use of statistics. Nevertheless, with the advent of autosearch systems for GSR in numerous crime laboratories it might be much easier than before (using a manual search), to assess the rarity of different GSR compositions experimentally, in a manner similar to the con-1179 Fig.…”

Section: Compositions Classification and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent developments in methods of chemical analysis in investigations of firearm-related events

Zeichner

2003

Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry

104

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A review of recent (approximately the last ten years) developments in the methods used for chemical analysis in investigations of firearm-related events is provided. This review discusses:examination of gunshot (primer) residues (GSR) and gunpowder (propellant) residues on suspects and their clothing;detection of firearm imprints on the hands of suspects;identification of the bullet entry holes and estimation of shooting distance;linking weapons and/or fired ammunition to the gunshot entries, and estimation of the time since discharge.

show abstract

“…These demonstrations have come either from the scientific community [8,14] or from mistakes in real trials [9,10]. In this sense, the idea of "discernible uniqueness" [1] of a given sample should not have validity anymore, as positive identification as a result of forensic analysis constitutes a "leap of faith" [22] adopted by the experts in a subjective way, usually justified by their experience in the field [5,23]. This obscurity and arbitrariness in positive identification statements leads not only to usurp the judge's role in the decision making process [16], but also to a hardly testable framework.…”

Section: Towards a New Paradigm In Forensic Speaker Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main characteristics of forensic DNA analysis, highlighted in [1,5] may be summarized in: i) it is scientifically based, avoiding expert opinions based on experience [5]; ii) it is clear and standard in their procedures, allowing scrutinizing and inspection by fact finders and forensic scientists [1]; and iii) it is probabilistic, avoiding hard match or non-match statements [1,8,22]. This forensic discipline, much newer than fingerprint analysis, has been characterized by the use of a two-stage approach in order to assess the weight of the evidence [24,6,5] based on: i) a similarity factor which supports that the questioned sample was left by a given suspect, and ii) a typicality factor which supports that the questioned sample was left by anyone else in a relevant population.…”

Section: Towards a New Paradigm In Forensic Speaker Recognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Likelihood Ratio Calibration in a Transparent and Testable Forensic Speaker Recognition Framework

Ramos-Castro

González-Rodríguez

Ortega‐Garcia

2006

2006 IEEE Odyssey - The Speaker and Language Recognition Workshop

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Esta es la versión de autor de la comunicación de congreso publicada en: This is an author produced version of a paper published in: AbstractA recently reopened debate about the infallibility of some classical forensic disciplines is leading to new requirements in forensic science. Standardization of procedures, proficiency testing, transparency in the scientific evaluation of the evidence and testability of the system and protocols are emphasized in order to guarantee the scientific objectivity of the procedures. Those ideas will be exploited in this paper in order to walk towards an appropriate framework for the use of forensic speaker recognition in courts. Evidence is interpreted using the Bayesian approach for the analysis of the evidence, as a scientific and logical methodology, in a two-stage approach based in the similarity-typicality pair, which facilitates the transparency in the process. The concept of calibration as a way of reporting reliable and accurate opinions is also deeply addressed, presenting experimental results which illustrate its effects. The testability of the system is then accomplished by the use of the NIST SRE 2005 evaluation protocol. Recently proposed applicationindependent evaluation techniques (C llr and APE curves) are finally addressed as a proper way for presenting results of proficiency testing in courts, as these evaluation metrics clearly show the influence of calibration errors in the accuracy of the inferential decision process.

show abstract

What made us ever think we could individualize using statistics?

Cited by 91 publications

References 0 publications

Accuracy and reliability of forensic latent fingerprint decisions

Accuracy and reliability of forensic latent fingerprint decisions

Recent developments in methods of chemical analysis in investigations of firearm-related events

Likelihood Ratio Calibration in a Transparent and Testable Forensic Speaker Recognition Framework

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About