A comment on the PCAST report: Skip the “match”/“non-match” stage

Geoffrey Stewart Morrison; David H. Kaye; David J. Balding; Duncan Taylor; Philip Dawid; Colin G.G. Aitken; Simone Gittelson; Grzegorz Zadora; Bernard Robertson; Sheila Willis; Susan Pope; Martin Neil; Kristy A. Martire; Amanda Hepler; Richard D. Gill; Allan Jamieson; Jacob de Zoete; R. Brent Ostrum; Kiel Caliebe

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.10.018

A comment on the PCAST report: Skip the “match”/“non-match” stage

Geoffrey Stewart Morrison
, David H. Kaye
, David J. Balding
, Duncan Taylor
, Philip Dawid
, Colin G.G. Aitken
, Simone Gittelson
, Grzegorz Zadora
, Bernard Robertson
, Sheila Willis
, Susan Pope
, Martin Neil
, Kristy A. Martire
, Amanda Hepler
, Richard D. Gill
, Allan Jamieson
, Jacob de Zoete
, R. Brent Ostrum
, Kiel Caliebe

Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter › peer-review

28 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This letter comments on the report “Forensic science in criminal courts: Ensuring scientific validity of feature-comparison methods” recently released by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The report advocates a procedure for evaluation of forensic evidence that is a two-stage procedure in which the first stage is “match”/“non-match” and the second stage is empirical assessment of sensitivity (correct acceptance) and false alarm (false acceptance) rates. Almost always, quantitative data from feature-comparison methods are continuously-valued and have within-source variability. We explain why a two-stage procedure is not appropriate for this type of data, and recommend use of statistical procedures which are appropriate.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	e7-e9
Number of pages	3
Journal	Forensic Science International
Volume	272
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.10.018
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2017

Keywords

False alarm
Forensic statistics
Likelihood ratio
Match/non-match
PCAST report
Sensitivity

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Morrison, G. S., Kaye, D. H., Balding, D. J., Taylor, D., Dawid, P., Aitken, C. G. G., Gittelson, S., Zadora, G., Robertson, B., Willis, S., Pope, S., Neil, M., Martire, K. A., Hepler, A., Gill, R. D., Jamieson, A., de Zoete, J., Ostrum, R. B., & Caliebe, K. (2017). A comment on the PCAST report: Skip the “match”/“non-match” stage. Forensic Science International, 272, e7-e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.10.018

@article{6d913f32c98e42ab8cda962cab0a48c0,

title = "A comment on the PCAST report: Skip the “match”/“non-match” stage",

abstract = "This letter comments on the report “Forensic science in criminal courts: Ensuring scientific validity of feature-comparison methods” recently released by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The report advocates a procedure for evaluation of forensic evidence that is a two-stage procedure in which the first stage is “match”/“non-match” and the second stage is empirical assessment of sensitivity (correct acceptance) and false alarm (false acceptance) rates. Almost always, quantitative data from feature-comparison methods are continuously-valued and have within-source variability. We explain why a two-stage procedure is not appropriate for this type of data, and recommend use of statistical procedures which are appropriate.",

keywords = "False alarm, Forensic statistics, Likelihood ratio, Match/non-match, PCAST report, Sensitivity",

author = "Morrison, \{Geoffrey Stewart\} and Kaye, \{David H.\} and Balding, \{David J.\} and Duncan Taylor and Philip Dawid and Aitken, \{Colin G.G.\} and Simone Gittelson and Grzegorz Zadora and Bernard Robertson and Sheila Willis and Susan Pope and Martin Neil and Martire, \{Kristy A.\} and Amanda Hepler and Gill, \{Richard D.\} and Allan Jamieson and \{de Zoete\}, Jacob and Ostrum, \{R. Brent\} and Kiel Caliebe",

year = "2017",

month = mar,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.10.018",

language = "English",

volume = "272",

pages = "e7--e9",

journal = "Forensic Science International",

issn = "0379-0738",

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Morrison, GS, Kaye, DH, Balding, DJ, Taylor, D, Dawid, P, Aitken, CGG, Gittelson, S, Zadora, G, Robertson, B, Willis, S, Pope, S, Neil, M, Martire, KA, Hepler, A, Gill, RD, Jamieson, A, de Zoete, J, Ostrum, RB & Caliebe, K 2017, 'A comment on the PCAST report: Skip the “match”/“non-match” stage', Forensic Science International, vol. 272, pp. e7-e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.10.018

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T1 - A comment on the PCAST report

T2 - Skip the “match”/“non-match” stage

AU - Morrison, Geoffrey Stewart

AU - Kaye, David H.

AU - Balding, David J.

AU - Taylor, Duncan

AU - Dawid, Philip

AU - Aitken, Colin G.G.

AU - Gittelson, Simone

AU - Zadora, Grzegorz

AU - Robertson, Bernard

AU - Willis, Sheila

AU - Pope, Susan

AU - Neil, Martin

AU - Martire, Kristy A.

AU - Hepler, Amanda

AU - Gill, Richard D.

AU - Jamieson, Allan

AU - de Zoete, Jacob

AU - Ostrum, R. Brent

AU - Caliebe, Kiel

PY - 2017/3/1

Y1 - 2017/3/1

N2 - This letter comments on the report “Forensic science in criminal courts: Ensuring scientific validity of feature-comparison methods” recently released by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The report advocates a procedure for evaluation of forensic evidence that is a two-stage procedure in which the first stage is “match”/“non-match” and the second stage is empirical assessment of sensitivity (correct acceptance) and false alarm (false acceptance) rates. Almost always, quantitative data from feature-comparison methods are continuously-valued and have within-source variability. We explain why a two-stage procedure is not appropriate for this type of data, and recommend use of statistical procedures which are appropriate.

AB - This letter comments on the report “Forensic science in criminal courts: Ensuring scientific validity of feature-comparison methods” recently released by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The report advocates a procedure for evaluation of forensic evidence that is a two-stage procedure in which the first stage is “match”/“non-match” and the second stage is empirical assessment of sensitivity (correct acceptance) and false alarm (false acceptance) rates. Almost always, quantitative data from feature-comparison methods are continuously-valued and have within-source variability. We explain why a two-stage procedure is not appropriate for this type of data, and recommend use of statistical procedures which are appropriate.

KW - False alarm

KW - Forensic statistics

KW - Likelihood ratio

KW - Match/non-match

KW - PCAST report

KW - Sensitivity

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85005870143

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DO - 10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.10.018

M3 - Letter

C2 - 27817943

AN - SCOPUS:85005870143

SN - 0379-0738

VL - 272

SP - e7-e9

JO - Forensic Science International

JF - Forensic Science International

ER -

A comment on the PCAST report: Skip the “match”/“non-match” stage

Abstract

Keywords

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