Apply our Research in Practice
Individuals in the courtroom, including judges, attorneys, and jury members, are challenged with interpreting the probabilistic evidence provided by new forensic methods. CSAFE is committed to providing up-to-date training to allow the legal community to fairly evaluate and communicate forensic conclusions. Judges, who under Daubert have the role of gate-keepers for the science that gets admitted into evidence in federal (and many) state courts, need specific knowledge to make appropriate decisions on matters of admissibility and expert testimony and to guide jurors in their deliberations when complex technical evidence is presented at trial.
Through collaborations with other national agencies, CSAFE provides legal education offerings at the intersection of forensics, statistics, and law –– both online and in-person –– to promote quantitative literacy among the legal community. Check back regularly for new offerings, and please contact us with any interest in educational collaborations or with questions.
Upcoming Events
Registration is now open for these events.
Webinar: handwriter: A Demonstration and Update on CSAFE Handwriting Analysis
Tuesday, October 18 at 11:00 am - 12:00 pm CDTIntroduction to Statistical Thinking for Judges
In the second edition of the Science Bench Book for Judges, a new section written by CSAFE researchers helps explain some of the common concepts used in statistical analysis. Judges will gain an understanding of the basics, including populations and samples, before moving on to different types of data that might arise in legal proceedings.
Available Resources
For the Legal Community
Found 159 Results
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Modeling And iNventory of Tread Impression System (MANTIS): The development, deployment and application of an active footwear data collection system
Type: Webinar Research Area(s): Footwear,Forensic Statistics,Implementation and Practice
This CSAFE webinar was held on March 24, 2022. Presenters: Dr. Richard Stone Iowa State University Dr. Susan Vanderplas University of Nebraska, Lincoln Presentation Description: This webinar details the development, capabilities and successful deployment of the Modeling And iNventory of…
Statistics in the Pursuit of Justice—A More Principled Strategy to Analyze Forensic Evidence.
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Forensic Statistics
Published: 2021 | By: Alicia Carriquiry
Florence Nightingale David Lecture at Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM)
Using Mixture Models to Examine Group Differences – Studying Juror Perceptions of the Strength of Forensic Science Evidence
Type: Presentation Slides Research Area(s): Forensic Statistics,Implementation and Practice
Published: 2021 | By: Naomi Kaplan-Damary
The following presentation was presented at 2021 International Association for Identification (IAI)
A practical tool for information management in forensic decisions: Using Linear Sequential Unmasking-Expanded (LSU-E) in casework
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice
Published: 2022 | By: Adele Quigley-McBride
Forensic analysts often receive information from a multitude of sources. Empirical work clearly demonstrates that biasing information can affect analysts' decisions, and that the order in which task-relevant information is received impacts human cognition and decision-making. Linear Sequential Unmasking (LSU; Dror et…
Forensic Science in Legal Education
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice,Training and Education
Published: 2021 | By: Brandon Garrett
In criminal cases, forensic science reports and expert testimony play an increasingly important role in adjudication. More states now follow a federal reliability standard, following Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals and Rule 702, which call upon judges to assess the…
Psychometrics for Forensic Fingerprint Comparisons
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice,Latent Print
Published: 2021 | By: Amanda Luby
Forensic science often involves the evaluation of crime-scene evidence to determine whether it matches a known-source sample, such as whether a fingerprint or DNA was left by a suspect or if a bullet was fired from a specific firearm. Even…
Improving Forensic Decision Making: a Human-Cognitive Perspective
Type: Webinar Research Area(s): Training and Education
This CSAFE webinar was held on February 17, 2022. Presenter: Itiel Dror, PhD University College London Presentation Description: Humans play a critical role in forensic decision making. Drawing upon classic cognitive and psychological research on factors that influence and underpin…
Using Mixture Models to Examine Group Differences: An Illustration Involving the Perceived Strength of Forensic Science Evidence
Type: Webinar Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice,Training and Education
This CSAFE webinar was held on December 9, 2021. Presenter: Naomi Kaplan-Damary, PhD The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Presentation Description: Forensic examiners compare items to assess whether they originate from a common source. In reaching conclusions, they consider the probability…
Treatment of inconclusives in the AFTE range of conclusions
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Firearms and Toolmarks
Published: 2021 | By: Heike Hofmann
In the past decade, and in response to the recommendations set forth by the National Research Council Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Sciences Community (2009), scientists have conducted several black-box studies that attempt to estimate the error…
Assessing the resources and requirements of statistics education in forensic science
Type: Poster Research Area(s): Training and Education
Published: 2020 | By: Xiaoyi Yang
With the increasing ability to easily collect and analyze data, statistics plays a more critical role in scientific research activities, such as designing experiments, controlling processes, and understanding or validating lab results. As a result, incorporating statistics training into the…
Commentary on Curley et al. Assessing cognitive bias in forensic decisions: a review and outlook
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Latent Print
Published: 2020 | By: William C. Thompson
In their recent critical review titled “Assessing Cognitive Bias in Forensic Decisions: A Review and Outlook,” Curley et al. (1) offer a confused and incomplete discussion of “task relevance” in forensic science. Their failure to adopt a clear and appropriate…
Judges and forensic science education: A national survey
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice
Published: 2021 | By: Brandon L. Garrett
In criminal cases, forensic science reports and expert testimony play an increasingly important role in adjudication. More states now follow a federal reliability standard, which calls upon judges to assess the reliability and validity of scientific evidence. Little is known…
Science Bench Book for Judges: Section 4 Introduction to Statistical Thinking for Judges
Type: Book Chapter Research Area(s):
Published: 2020 | By: Alicia Carriquiry
Alicia Carriquiry, the director of the Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic Evidence (CSAFE), and Eryn Blagg, a doctoral student in statistics at Iowa State University, wrote a section on statistics for the newly released second edition of the…
Judges and forensic science education: A national survey
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice
Published: 2021 | By: Brandon L. Garrett
In criminal cases, forensic science reports and expert testimony play an increasingly important role in adjudication. More states now follow a federal reliability standard, which calls upon judges to assess the reliability and validity of scientific evidence. Little is known…
Juror appraisals of forensic evidence: Effects of blind proficiency and cross-examination
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice
Published: 2020 | By: William E. Crozier
Forensic testimony plays a crucial role in many criminal cases, with requests to crime laboratories steadily increasing. As part of efforts to improve the reliability of forensic evidence, scientific and policy groups increasingly recommend routine and blind proficiency tests of…
Bayesian hierarchical modeling for the forensic evaluation of handwritten documents
Type: Dissertation,Publication Research Area(s): Handwriting
Published: 2020 | By: Amy Crawford
The analysis of handwritten evidence has been used widely in courts in the United States since the 1930s (Osborn, 1946). Traditional evaluations are conducted by trained forensic examiners. More recently, there has been a movement toward objective and probability-based evaluation…
Mock Jurors’ Evaluation of Firearm Examiner Testimony
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice
Published: 2020 | By: Brandon L. Garrett
Objectives: Firearms experts traditionally have testified that a weapon leaves “unique” toolmarks, so bullets or cartridge casings can be visually examined and conclusively matched to a particular firearm. Recently, due to scientific critiques, Department of Justice policy, and judges’ rulings,…
Mock Juror Perceptions of Forensics
Type: Webinar Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice,Training and Education
This CSAFE Center Wide webinar was presented on December 8, 2020 by: Brandon Garrett – L. Neil Williams Professor of Law, Faculty Director at the Wilson Center for Science and Justice Nicholas Scurich – Associate Professor of Criminology, Law &…
A Pioneer in Forensic Science Reform: The Work of Paul Giannelli
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice
Published: 2018 | By: Brandon Garrett
Few can say, "I told you so," to our entire criminal justice system. Being right about what is wrong with the use of evidence in criminal cases is not a bad thing, but being able to influence the growing response…
Probabilistic Reporting in Criminal Cases in the United States: A Baseline Study
Type: Publication Research Area(s): Implementation and Practice
Published: 2020 | By: Simon Cole
Forensic evidence reporting shows a high degree of adherence to prevailing disciplinary standards. Probabilistic reporting of forensic results remains rare. Probabilistic reports were mostly subjective verbal assignments of posterior probabilities.
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