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The interpretation of forensic conclusions by professionals and students: Does experience matter?

Are professionals better at assessing the evidential strength of different types of forensic conclusions compared to students? In an online questionnaire 96 crime investigation and law students, and 269 crime investigation and legal professionals assessed three fingerprint examination reports. All r...

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Autores principales: van Straalen, Elmarije K., de Poot, Christianne J., Malsch, Marijke, Elffers, Henk
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10690568/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38046474
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fsisyn.2023.100437
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author van Straalen, Elmarije K.
de Poot, Christianne J.
Malsch, Marijke
Elffers, Henk
author_facet van Straalen, Elmarije K.
de Poot, Christianne J.
Malsch, Marijke
Elffers, Henk
author_sort van Straalen, Elmarije K.
collection PubMed
description Are professionals better at assessing the evidential strength of different types of forensic conclusions compared to students? In an online questionnaire 96 crime investigation and law students, and 269 crime investigation and legal professionals assessed three fingerprint examination reports. All reports were similar, except for the conclusion part which was stated in a categorical (CAT), verbal likelihood ratio (VLR) or numerical likelihood ratio (NLR) conclusion with high or low evidential strength. The results showed no significant difference between the groups of students and professionals in their assessment of the conclusions. They all overestimated the strength of the strong CAT conclusion compared to the other conclusion types and underestimated the strength of the weak CAT conclusion. Their background (legal vs. crime investigation) did have a significant effect on their understanding. Whereas the legal professionals performed better compared to the crime investigators, the legal students performed worse compared to crime investigation students.
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spelling pubmed-106905682023-12-02 The interpretation of forensic conclusions by professionals and students: Does experience matter? van Straalen, Elmarije K. de Poot, Christianne J. Malsch, Marijke Elffers, Henk Forensic Sci Int Synerg Interdisciplinary Forensics Are professionals better at assessing the evidential strength of different types of forensic conclusions compared to students? In an online questionnaire 96 crime investigation and law students, and 269 crime investigation and legal professionals assessed three fingerprint examination reports. All reports were similar, except for the conclusion part which was stated in a categorical (CAT), verbal likelihood ratio (VLR) or numerical likelihood ratio (NLR) conclusion with high or low evidential strength. The results showed no significant difference between the groups of students and professionals in their assessment of the conclusions. They all overestimated the strength of the strong CAT conclusion compared to the other conclusion types and underestimated the strength of the weak CAT conclusion. Their background (legal vs. crime investigation) did have a significant effect on their understanding. Whereas the legal professionals performed better compared to the crime investigators, the legal students performed worse compared to crime investigation students. Elsevier 2023-09-29 /pmc/articles/PMC10690568/ /pubmed/38046474 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fsisyn.2023.100437 Text en © 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Interdisciplinary Forensics
van Straalen, Elmarije K.
de Poot, Christianne J.
Malsch, Marijke
Elffers, Henk
The interpretation of forensic conclusions by professionals and students: Does experience matter?
title The interpretation of forensic conclusions by professionals and students: Does experience matter?
title_full The interpretation of forensic conclusions by professionals and students: Does experience matter?
title_fullStr The interpretation of forensic conclusions by professionals and students: Does experience matter?
title_full_unstemmed The interpretation of forensic conclusions by professionals and students: Does experience matter?
title_short The interpretation of forensic conclusions by professionals and students: Does experience matter?
title_sort interpretation of forensic conclusions by professionals and students: does experience matter?
topic Interdisciplinary Forensics
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10690568/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38046474
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fsisyn.2023.100437
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