Assessing the Validity of Forensic Decisions Through Interrater Reliability

本项目将在枪弹案件比对技术的背景下调查法医决策的可靠性和有效性。它通过审查非决定性的法医决定是由真正含糊的物证还是非证据因素造成的。该项目还将研究两个不同来源产生的模式证据是否足够不同，以使法医检查员能够一致地检测到。该项目将采用一种实验方法来测试对发射子弹案件的法医分析的有效性。通过评价者间的可信度，研究将评估多个法医在评估相同证据时得出类似结论的趋势。该项目还将确定两件不同武器在发射的弹壳上留下的工具痕迹是否足够不同，足以被不同的检查员发现。这些比较将使该项目能够测试模式匹配取证技术的有效性，这些技术必然依赖于主观的人类判断。由于这项研究解决了与多种法医技术相关的问题，它将在整个法医科学中极大地促进对决策证据价值的了解。这一裁决反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will investigate the reliability and validity of forensic decision making in the context of the technique of fired cartridge case comparison. It does so by examining whether inconclusive forensic decisions result from truly ambiguous physical evidence or from non-evidentiary factors. The project additionally will study whether pattern evidence produced by two different sources is sufficiently distinct to be consistently detected by forensic examiners. The project will employ an experimental approach to test the validity of forensic analyses of fired cartridge cases. Through interrater reliability, the research will assess the tendency for multiple forensic examiners to reach similar conclusions when evaluating the same evidence. The project also will ascertain whether the toolmarks left on fired cartridge cases by two discrete weapons are sufficiently distinct to be detected by different examiners. These comparisons will enable the project to test the validity of pattern matching forensic techniques that necessarily rely on subjective human judgments. As this research addresses issues relevant to a multitude of forensic techniques, it will significantly advance knowledge about the probative value of decision making throughout the forensic sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.