CSAFE February 2019 Center Wide Webinar

CSAFE invites researchers, collaborators, and members of the broader forensics and statistics communities to participate in the February Center Wide Webinar on Monday, February 4 at 11:00 am CST. We will have a short introduction from CSAFE Director Alicia Carriquiry followed by the presentation “Covering the Basic Concepts Surrounding the Weight and Strength of Evidence- Part 2” by Dr. Danica Ommen, CSAFE researcher and Iowa State University assistant professor.

Webinar Description:  In this two-part presentation, we will focus on aspects of the forensic identification of source problems where the main question of interest is determining the origin of evidence with unknown source.  In order to solve this problem, we need to determine the value of the evidence with respect to two competing propositions for its origin by computing some type of “likelihood ratio.”  After we get this value of evidence, the idea is that it can be used to help someone make a decision.  In the case of a criminal trial, the decision would be regarding the guilt or innocence of the defendant.  However, there are many different ideas about what the “likelihood ratio” should look like and how to compute its value, especially in the face of uncertainty.  Often, we are uncertain about the statistical models we’ve chosen to describe the evidence.  In this presentation, we will discuss the basic definitions, as well as various computational strategies, for both the weight and the value of evidence.  In addition, we will review and discuss recent controversies surrounding the value of evidence.

Please register for the event by clicking the button above. Participating instructions will be sent to registered participants via email prior to the event.