The Disregarded Necessity: Validity Testing of Forensic Feature-Comparison Techniques
Michael J. Saks · Seton Hall University eRepository (Seton Hall University) · 2018
The three major empirical research approaches to validating forensic feature-comparison expert evidence are described and explained, and the benefits and difficulties associated with each are discussed. The black-box model involves presenting forensic examiners with samples of known origin, and measuring the degree to which their inferences of source are veridical. The DNA model applies the technique and statistical methods of DNA typing to other forensic feature-comparison fields. The basic-research model seeks to subject the various beliefs that a forensic technique depends upon for its validity to research designed to determine the extent to which the belief is valid. Any of these approaches would, in different ways, help close the current gap between beliefs and knowledge in most fields of forensic identification.