Annotated Bibliography

Ahimsa Butler

Professor Goff

English 1010

7 July 2014

Forensic Science: Biased analysis and their solutions

Budowle, Bruce, et al. "A Perspective On Errors, Bias, And Interpretation In The Forensic Sciences And Direction For Continuing Advancement."Journal Of Forensic Sciences (Wiley- Blackwell) 54.4 (2009): 798-809. Academic Search Premier. Web. 5 July 2014.

This article is from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences peer reviewed journal. In the article the author explores many causes of errors caused by biased judgments and the need for improvement. He goes on to state that forensic scientists fail from human vulnerabilities, and this results in inaccurate, biased analysis, and sometimes these errors are overlooked. Bias and criticism will sometimes lead forensic scientist to purposely or accidentally make false accusations. It can also taint their liability.

The author states that some action should be taken and procedures should be reinforced to minimize biased mistakes and false convictions. Error rates should be specified. And, qualified experts should be required to review analysis to approve the findings or results. He also proposes that education and training should stress the nature of being biased.

Kassin, Saul M., Itiel E. Dror, and Jeff Kukucka. "The forensic confirmation bias: Problems, perspectives, and proposed solutions."Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition 2.1 (2013): 42-52.

This article explains how forensic examiners results convicted an innocent man. The findings resulted from biased and preexisting beliefs. This lab has the best, highly trained examiners in the world, how could this mistake be possible. Many innocent people have been falsely convicted, and improving technology has proved this.

The author states what should be done in order to limit these biased errors. The writer explains that examiners should not assume the crime scene based on previous findings. Instead examine all information with certain procedures to get accurate results. He also says that the examiners should not be exposed to certain or irrelevant information about the case and the results should be verified by a second examiner with the same procedures.

Koppl, Roger. "How to improve forensic science."European Journal of Law and Economics” 20.3 (2005): 255-286.

This article is written by Roger Koppi, Professor of Economics and Finance, and it appeared in the European Journal of Law and Economics. He states the problem is the forensic labs are a monopoly. This monopoly includes law enforcement and lack of competition.

Most of the forensic work is performed in police labs, and some forensic examiners are previous police officers, and this can also bring bias into forensic science. The author explains how biased results can also be almost like pure pressure, being that the forensic scientist depend on the law enforcement for pay and evaluations.

The author suggests the solution to the problem would be to break the monopoly and add competition. The competition would prove “pure science”. The labs should become independent instead of depending on law enforcement. These solutions would reduce biased and inaccurate results.

Miller, Larry S. "Procedural bias in forensic science examinations of human hair."Law and Human Behavior”11.2 (1987): 157.

This article written by Larry S. Miller, appeared in the Law and Human behavior Journal. The author focuses on the fact that forensic examiners are subject to give their opinions of the concluded results. He gives an example of the analysis of hair examinations are subject to the opinion of an examiner. The author hypothesizes that examiners bias findings can occur from social interaction among police and attorneys. In order to test this hypothesis he preforms an experiment with examiners that analyze hair samples. He sets a line up of suspects and hair samples with the same characteristics.

After He looks over the results he concludes there is a huge amount of unintentional biased analysis. The results were influenced by the additional information received about the suspects and also the overlooked similarities. He says how it is difficult to control presumptions, and based on his experiment, he suggests that police should present more than one hair sample and different types of suspects.

Saks, M. J., et al. "Context effects in forensic science: A review and application of the science of science to crime laboratory practice in the United States."Science & Justice”43.2 (2003): 77-90.

This article explores how being a forensic science technician over time can lead to biased analysis. It states that over time the technicians may adapt so much to the field that there jobs become second nature. It explains how their previous cases and work can influence an observation for a new analysis, and also how different circumstances can lead to biased results.

The writer goes on to say that this article is written to open examiners eyes to the many possibilities and be aware of the mistakes that can occur. The writer also proposes suggestions that can eliminate biased errors from occurring. One suggestion is “blind testing”, where scientists preform their procedures without any outside information so their results are not influenced by this information. And last, he suggest that a solution would be to minimize the human observation procedures and add more technology.