Error and its Meaning in Forensic Science

The discussion of “error” has gained momentum in forensic science in the wake of the Daubert guidelines and has intensified with the National Academy of Sciences' Report. Error has many different meanings, and too often, forensic practitioners themselves as well as the courts misunderstand scientific error and statistical error rates, often confusing them with practitioner error (or mistakes). Here, we present an overview of these concepts as they pertain to forensic science applications, discussing the difference between practitioner error (including mistakes), instrument error, statistical error, and method error. We urge forensic practitioners to ensure that potential sources of error and method limitations are understood and clearly communicated and advocate that the legal community be informed regarding the differences between interobserver errors, uncertainty, variation, and mistakes.     

中外法庭科学标准化研究现状比较与发展趋势

近年来,我国法庭科学发展迅猛,开始受到广泛关注和重视。经过多年的研究和推动,标准化正逐步深入到法庭科学的日常实践中,通过制定和实施标准规范,确保法庭科学结果质量,更好发挥科学技术在执法司法中的重要作用。标准化研究是法庭科学标准化工作的重要环节,也是推动法庭科学标准化发展的基础和动力。国内外法庭科学研究者都高度重视法庭科学标准化研究,许多新理念、新思想、新方法不断涌现。本文从标准定位、标准化对象、标准颗粒度、标准体系、质量控制、国际标准化六个方面对当前中外法庭科学标准化研究的现状进行了深入全面的归纳和比较,指出了国内外在法庭科学标准化研究方面的相似和差异,并对法庭科学标准化研究的未来发展趋势进行了分析,以求为推动我国法庭科学领域标准化工作高质量发展提供借鉴和参考。     

谁是司法鉴定的“守门人”？——《关于司法鉴定管理问题的决定》实施五周年成效评析

本文从司法鉴定机构设置、司法鉴定活动启动以及司法鉴定意见审查三个方面论述了司法鉴定“守门人”问题。通过对两大法系国家各自司法鉴定制度的分析,梳理司法鉴定“守门人”的三道防线。同时有针对性地比较和讨论了我国司法鉴定制度缺陷,明确司法鉴定制度改革不能以牺牲鉴定意见“守门人”功能为代价。指出建立国家所属的具有公益性、中立性的司法鉴定机构是发展的必由之路。     

Management of crime scene units by Quebec police senior managers: Insight on forensic knowledge and understanding of key stakeholders

What do policing leaders think and know of forensic science? Beyond crime scene investigators or detectives, how do police senior managers perceive the role, utility and limitations of forensic science? Very few empirical studies have addressed the issue. Forensic scientsts should be concerned about the perception that law enforcement senior managers have of their discipline for two reasons. First, strategic and financial decision-makers are obviously key players in the overall administration and provision of forensic science, either as a supervisor, money provider or as a customer. Second, literature has highlighted that other actors involved in forensic science underestimate the scope and possibilities offered by forensic science, hence limiting its exploitation and potential. Following interviews with 18 police senior managers from Quebec (Canada), this study shows that they generally restrict forensic science to a reactive discipline whose role and utility is to identify offenders and support the Court. This understanding of forensic science, like that of many others including a significant share of forensic scientists, differs from the perception of other police activities in modern law enforcement agencies where proactive action is sought. Considering these findings and the growing body of literature which calls for forensic science to connect more tightly with policing and security, we advocate a more extensive education of police leaders regarding the scope of forensic science.     

The forensic examination of structural fires in Victoria,Australia: Decision-making processes and impact on judicial outcomes

There is a body of published research that has evaluated the contribution of forensic science to the criminal justice system, but many disciplines of forensic science remain unexplored in this regard. The aim of this study was to examine the contribution that forensic fire examination services provide to criminal investigations and court processes in arson cases. Forensic fire examination services differ in a number of ways to the disciplines covered in previous research on the impact of forensic evidence on justice outcomes. Forensic fire examinations involve a combination of scene examination and laboratory analyses, and the results can provide critical evidence of whether an incident that has occurred is a criminal offence (i.e. whether a fire has occurred as the result of an act of arson). Forensic fire examination is also a discipline that has faced challenges and undergone development in recent decades regarding its scientific basis and the issue of contextual bias. In this study, data were collated for 273 structural fires that were examined by the forensic fire services in Victoria, Australia. In this jurisdiction, scene and laboratory forensic services are delivered within short time frames with a focus on providing impartial scientific and investigative services to assist criminal investigations conducted by police. The current dataset was highly skewed in terms of criminal justice outcomes and was not suitable for conducting the planned statistical analyses. Nonetheless, the pattern of findings obtained suggested that the inclusion of forensic evidence which supported the prosecution of arson may be associated with an increased likelihood of suspects being charged and defendants found guilty. Examination of the decision-making process of the forensic fire examiners has provided insight into the variety of evidence that is considered by forensic experts in reaching the important conclusion about the origin and cause of structural fires.     

The current status of forensic science laboratory accreditation in Europe

Forensic science is gaining some solid ground in the area of effective crime prevention, especially in the areas where more sophisticated use of available technology is prevalent. All it takes is high-level cooperation among nations that can help them deal with criminality that adopts a cross-border nature more and more. It is apparent that cooperation will not be enough on its own and this development will require a network of qualified forensic laboratories spread over Europe. It is argued in this paper that forensic science laboratories play an important role in the fight against crime. Another, complimentary argument is that forensic science laboratories need to be better involved in the fight against crime. For this to be achieved, a good level of cooperation should be established and maintained. It is also noted that harmonization is required for such cooperation and seeking accreditation according to an internationally acceptable standard, such as ISO/IEC 17025, will eventually bring harmonization as an end result. Because, ISO/IEC 17025 as an international standard, has been a tool that helps forensic science laboratories in the current trend towards accreditation that can be observed not only in Europe, but also in the rest of the world of forensic science. In the introduction part, ISO/IEC 17025 states that "the acceptance of testing and calibration results between countries should be facilitated if laboratories comply with this international standard and if they obtain accreditation from bodies which have entered into mutual recognition agreements with equivalent bodies in other countries using this international standard." Furthermore, it is emphasized that the use of this international standard will assist in the harmonization of standards and procedures. The background of forensic science cooperation in Europe will be explained by using an existing European forensic science network, i.e. ENFSI, in order to understand the current status of forensic science in Europe better. The Council of Europe and the European Union approaches to forensic science will also be discussed by looking at the legal instruments and documents published by these two European organizations. Data collected from 52 European forensic science laboratories will be examined and findings will be evaluated from a quality assurance and accreditation point of view. The need for harmonization and accreditation in forensic science will be emphasized. The steps that should be taken at the European level for increasing and strengthening the role of European forensic science laboratories in the fight against crime will be given as recommendations in the conclusion.     

Is forensic science in danger of extinction?

Observations of modern day forensic science has prompted asking the question of whether this field is in danger of extinction. Although there have undoubtedly been meaningful advancements in analytical capabilities, we have overlooked several unintended practical and philosophical consequences. This article addresses three main areas of concern: the declining role of the generalist in an era of increased specialization, the role of education in preparing the next generation of forensic scientists, and the implementation of advanced instrumentation with a focus on statistical significance and field deployable instrumentation.     

Neural networks in forensic science.

Neural networks were developed to study and mimic the functioning of the human brain. Humans are good at pattern recognition; the question is how good neural networks are at it, particularly with problems of forensic science interest. Simulation experiments with a type of neural network known as a Hopfield net indicate that it may have value for the storage of toolmark patterns (including bullet striation patterns) and for the subsequent retrieval of the matching pattern using another mark by the same tool for input. Another type of neural network, the back-propagation network (BPN), is useful for applications similar to those for which standard statistical methods of pattern classification can be used. This would be an appropriate approach to the matching of general component patterns, such as gas chromatograms of gasoline, or pyrolysis patterns from materials of forensic science interest, such as paint. The BPN may provide better results than statistical methods, but it is currently necessary to try both to determine which would be best for any given situation.     

The relationship between the detection of acquisitive crime by forensic science and drug-dependent offenders

Drug- and nondrug-related acquisitive crime offences such as burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft, were compared to assess whether drug abusers were more likely to be apprehended via forensic science techniques. Data were all acquisitive offences committed over a 6-year period within a police force area in England. Drug-dependent offenders committed a wider range of offence types than nondependent offenders, and they were significantly more likely to be detected via their DNA or fingerprints (p < 0.01). A logistic regression (n > 14,000) revealed a number of predictors that influence the detection of the crime by forensic techniques. The results indicate that a number of these predictors are of statistical significance; the most significant of these being drug use by the offender with sex, ethnicity, and employment status also being relevant. Age of the offender and number of offences committed were found not to be significant. Of the four hypotheses considered to explain this, the most likely was thought to be the physical and mental impact of drug use on crime scene behavior. Consideration is given to the disciplines of forensic science and forensic psychology working closely together to distinguish factors that influence crime scene behavior.     

物证鉴定实验室的组织和服务体系

世界各国物证鉴定实验室组织结构有多种形式。本文综述了物证鉴定实验室的内部组织、上级组织和服务体系模式 ,分析讨论各种模式的特性和优缺点。物证鉴定实验室组织形式由多种因素决定 ,没有最佳模式     

影像医学在法医学中的应用

个体识别在法庭科学调查中一直是重要的工作,它包括:性别、身高、年龄的推断等。在法庭科学领域中利用影像医学技术进行个体识别,在准确性、实用性方面有特别的意义。本文目的旨在通过广泛系统地回顾国内外法庭科学中的影像学应用,了解现有医学影像技术在法庭科学应用中的优点和不足之处,为进一步完善医学影像学在法庭科学中的应用提供参考。     

The future of forensic and crime scene science. Part II. A UK perspective on forensic science education

This paper builds on the views presented by the author at 'The Future of Forensic and Crime Scene Science Conference'. Forensic science has become an increasingly prominent area of science within the last 10 years. This increasing prominence together with popularity in the subject has seen the number of undergraduate students studying forensic science related courses at UK Universities increase rapidly in just 5 years and there are no short term signs of this trend reducing. In 2005, there were 450 courses with forensic in the title offered by higher education institutes. Although the forensic community has expressed its concern that job prospects for these students wishing to pursue careers as forensic scientists will be limited numbers of students undertaking science courses have still increased. The increase in students studying forensic science comes in an era of decreasing science numbers in higher education with the potential to produce high calibre science graduates with sought after skills in critical thinking, analysis, interpretation and communication. Technology has continued to advance at a similar pace providing those responsible for managing crime with a need and opportunity to identify and predict new and future applications of science and technology; not just in reducing and detecting crime but also in predicting how technology will be used by criminals in the future. There is therefore a need for forensic science users, providers and educators to identify the knowledge and skills required by forensic scientists and crime investigators of the future to ensure that technology continues to be used and applied to its full advantage. This provides universities an opportunity to contribute to the development of both the practice and practitioners of forensic science. This paper outlines the current issues facing universities in relation to forensic science and identifies their future role in providing high quality relevant courses for future forensic practitioners; developing current forensic practitioners through their participation in applied research, short courses, conferences and qualifications linked to professional practice; and supporting and developing the practice of forensic and crime scene science, through the identification, engagement and dissemination of pure and applied research.     

美国法庭科学证据的应用与发展

＂法庭科学＂萌芽于古代中国,兴盛于近现代西方国家,最终发展成为具备完整科学体系的现代意义上的法庭科学学科。法庭科学证据的应用与发展显然与法庭科学的发展与应用密切相关,它们相互制约,相互促进。美国司法制度中关于法庭科学证据的证明力、可信度、可采性的分立质疑对法庭科学本身的发展无疑起到鞭策与促进作用。美国法庭科学证据的司法制度以及常用的一些传统与高技术法庭科学证据的使用过程中存在的许多问题,理解法庭科学证据标准,对我国法庭科学及其证据的研究与应用有所启迪。     

Effective use of forensic science in volume crime investigations: Identifying recurring themes in the literature

New scientific, technological and legal developments, particularly the introduction of national databases for DNA and fingerprints, have led to increased use of forensic science in the investigation of crime. There is an assumption, and in some instances specific assertions, that such developments bring improvements either in broad criminal justice terms or more narrowly in terms of economic or practical efficiencies. The underlying presumption is that the new technological opportunities will be understood and effectively implemented. This research investigates whether such increases in activity have also been accompanied by improvements in the effective use of forensic science. A systematic review of thirty-six reports published (predominantly in England and Wales) since the 1980s, which have considered the use of forensic science in the investigation of volume crimes, was carried out. These reports have identified a number of recurrent themes that influenced how effectively forensic science was used in investigations. The themes identified included forensic knowledge and training of investigators, communication and information exchange between specialists and investigators, timeliness of forensic results, interagency relationships and deployment of crime scene examiner resources. The research findings suggest that these factors continue to hinder the effective use of forensic science despite technological advances and this paper considers their potential causes.     

科学证据的基本特征——兼谈法医学鉴定意见的审查

本文论述了科学证据应具备的基本特征。旨在帮助法官正确认识司法鉴定的本质,审查司法鉴定意见(或结论)的方法,以及法医学鉴定意见(或结论)可采信的条件。而对于司法鉴定人来说,正确认识司法鉴定意见(或结论)作为科学证据所应具备的基本特征,或作为科学证据被采信所应具备的基本条件,是做好司法鉴定工作的前提。     

Forensic science and criminal justice: An analysis of curricular models

The multi-disciplinary field of forensic science frequently finds its academic home within criminal justice programs. After examining the reasons for this academic linkage, an analysis of criminal justice curricular models and courses was undertaken to assess their applicability to forensic science education and careers. The authors concluded that the relationship between criminal justice and forensic science can be mutually beneficial; however, most criminal justice programs do not provide adequate preparation for meaningful careers in forensic science.     

Proposing Problem-Based Learning for teaching future forensic speech scientists

In the last 10–15 years, Masters programmes and undergraduate modules have emerged in the UK that teach forensic speech science. Forensic speech science is the forensic subdiscipline concerned with analysing speech recordings, such as telephone calls of unknown speakers, when they arise as evidence. In order to answer questions surrounding the identity of the speakers in these recordings, forensic speech analysts draw on their expertise in phonetics and acoustics. Even though existing UK forensic speech science programmes do not claim to train students to a level where they are in a position to carry out real-life forensic casework, a proportion of the graduates from these programmes do go on to fill discipline-specific roles in security organisations or for private providers of forensic speech analysis. It is therefore surely in the community’s interests to review educational approaches to capitalise on the current training opportunities. This paper specifically proposes to explore the potential of a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach to forensic speech science teaching. PBL is a student-centred learning approach that heavily relies on the students’ independence in the solving of ill-structured problems. PBL has shown to be beneficial to programmes that directly lead on to discipline-specific professional roles, and has even become the standardised teaching approach in some of those areas (medicine being the flagship example). Given its reported success in other disciplines, the question arises as to whether PBL could bring similar benefits to prospective forensic speech practitioners and to forensic speech science as a whole.     

Science serving justice: opportunities for enhancing integrity in forensic science in Africa

Forensic science is a unique discipline of applied science. At its core it is a science, yet finds its use in the application to cases that often go to a court of law. Practicing at the intersection of science and law poses distinct challenges, but also holds incredible potential in its ability to serve as a vehicle for integrity. The practice of forensic science in Africa is at a tipping point. Unchartered waters lie ahead for the continent and its forensic scientists. Often working in inadequately resourced environments, obstacles may seem insurmountable. As African forensic scientists, we can overcome these obstacles as we accept that we are connected and united in our goal to allow science to serve justice.     

Forensic Gait Analysis and Recognition: Standards of Evidence Admissibility

Gait is one biological characteristic which has attracted strong research interest due to its potential use in human identification. Although almost two decades have passed since a forensic gait expert has testified to the identity of a perpetrator in court, the methods remain insufficiently robust, considering the recent paradigm shift witnessed in the forensic science community regarding quality of evidence. In contrast, technological advancements have taken the lead, and research into automated gait recognition has greatly surpassed forensic gait analysis in terms of the size of acquired datasets and demographic variability of participants, tested variables, and statistical evaluation of results. Despite these advantages, gait recognition presents with different problems which are yet to be resolved. Therefore, courts should treat gait evidence with caution, as they should any other form of evidence originating from disciplines without fully established codes of practice, error rates, and demonstrable applications in forensic scenarios.     

常见毒物毒品范围界定的研究

目的统计天津市刑科所1994年至2003年受理毒物、毒品案件的情况。方法用统计的方法界定天津地区常见毒物毒品的范围。结果天津地区常见毒物毒品的范围统计归纳为10组。结论该研究的结果可作为各地区研究确定常见毒物毒品范围的参考。