PSYCH 297R Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: False Positive Rate, Trace Evidence, Alphonse Bertillon
26 Feb 2019
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Forensic identification: process of linking a piece of physical trace evidence to an individual. Anthropometry (bertillon, 1883): 11 measurements of parts of body to id people. Biometrics: id of an individual person based on measurable anatomical traits. Recognition of distinctive patterns in fingerprints, iris, retina, face. Modern forensics id rests on a comparison between two samples: may include trace evidence left at the scene of crime or evidence transported from the scene, taken from suspect or tool used. If comparison is similar, it means it is a source attribution. Individualization: conclusion that a trace found at crime scene came from this source to the exclusion of all other sources in the world. Inconclusive: if trace evidence is incomplete, contaminated, impossible to analyze w/ precision. Bullet-lead analysis was abandoned when courts realized that bullets recovered from a crime scene could be matched to other bullets. Bullets from different boxes could be similar.
