Criminal: Topic Two

Question 1

What is topic 2?

Answer 1

The collection and processing of forensic evidence

Question 2

What is the key research for topic 2?

Answer 2

Hall and Player: Will the introduction of an emotional context affect fingerprint analysis and decision making

Question 3

What did H and P’s sample consist of?

Answer 3

70 volunteer fingerprint experts working for the MET police

Question 4

What were the volunteers provided with to analyse?

Answer 4

A fingerprint which was inked (from a volunteer) and superimposed onto a £50

Question 5

How many prints were used and how did this improve reliability?

Answer 5

14 were used and were checked for consistency

Question 6

What equipment were P’s given?

Answer 6

1 of the 14 prints, fingerprint form (of suspect’s prints), CS report, fingerprint magnifying glass and a Russell comparator

Question 7

When did P’s take part in the study?

Answer 7

In their normal working day

Question 8

Where did P’s conduct the analysis and what restrictions were imposed on P’s?

Answer 8

In a typical analysis room with no time limit, however, no discussion was permitted

Question 9

What was the high emotional context?

Answer 9

Murder

Question 10

What was the low emotional context?

Answer 10

Forgery

Question 11

What were P’s asked to fill out before coming to a conclusion about the mark?

Answer 11

Their demographic info

Question 12

What were the 4 categories of classification for the fingerprints?

Answer 12

1) Identification, 2) Not an identification, 3) Insufficient or 4) Insufficient detail to establish identity

Question 13

P’s were given a questionnaire which asked what? (Hall and Player)

Answer 13

Whether or not they referred to the CS infor and whether the impacted their analysis

Question 14

How many out of the 70 said they read the report and how many of those were from the HEC?

Answer 14

57/70 read the report, 30 of those were from HEC

Question 15

What percentage of the 30 HEC that read the report said that it influenced their decision?

Answer 15

52%

Question 16

What percentage of the LEC that read the report said that it had influenced their decision?

Answer 16

6%

Question 17

Despite what the experts reported about the influence of the report, what was found?

Answer 17

No significant results were found from their final opinion on the mark

Question 18

What did H and P conclude from the key research?

Answer 18

That emotional context did no detract from the experts’ capacity to make a final decision on the print

Question 19

What did Dror look into?

Answer 19

Top down biases

Question 20

What is the bottom up approach?

Answer 20

Examining the ridges and patterns of a fingerprint to identify unique features of a person

Question 21

When might experts use the top down approach?

Answer 21

If the print isn’t clear or complete

Question 22

What is the top down approach?

Answer 22

This is when contextual effects such as type of crime or suspect are used to help with the analysis of prints

Question 23

Give examples of biases which might impact fingerprint analysis

Answer 23

Expectancy bias, selective attention, conformity, need-determination perception, over confidence

Question 24

What did Dror et al (2005) look into?

Answer 24

Research with 27 students and emotional context

Question 25

What did Dror do?

Answer 25

Manipulated P’s emotions

Question 26

Who were the P’s in Dror’s study?

Answer 26

27 students (non fingerprint experts)

Question 27

How many pairs of prints were P’s given? (Dror)

Answer 27

96

Question 28

What were shown on a screen while the students analysed the prints?

Answer 28

Subliminal messages saying ‘same’ or ‘guilty’

Question 29

What did Dror found in terms of the high emotional cases?

Answer 29

That P’s were more likely to match the pairs (58%)

Question 30

What percentage of low emotional cases found a match?

Answer 30

58%

Question 31

What percentage found a match for the HEC with the subliminal messages?

Answer 31

66%

Question 32

What did Dror conclude from this research?

Answer 32

That emotional context does influence analysis for non fingerprint experts

Question 33

What did Miller look into/propose?

Answer 33

The ‘six pack’ idea

Question 34

What is the ‘six pack’ idea?

Answer 34

That we should use the same line-up technique with fillers for hair samples and fingerprint analysis as well as for visual identification

Question 35

What is the main purpose of the ‘six pack’ idea?

Answer 35

To produce less false positives

Question 36

What did Miller give to the students?

Answer 36

Either 1 hair sample from 1 suspect or 5 hair samples from 5 suspects

Question 37

What did Kassin suggest?

Answer 37

A ‘linear approach’

Question 38

What did Kassin suggest in order to reduce bias in examiners?

Answer 38

That they should be unaware of the CSI and should examine the print context free without seeing the fingerprint of the suspect

Question 39

What is ACE-V?

Answer 39

A scientific method for the examination of fingerprints for more structure and objectivity

Question 40

What does ACE-V stand for?

Answer 40

Analysis, comparison, evaluation and verification