Training & Education Projects

CSAFE researchers develop several mechanisms that provide education and training to forensic practitioners in crime laboratories and other forensic science providers. These include publicly available webinars (6-8 per year) that report on new research results and key issues in the field, and workshops offered at laboratories and conferences focused on probability and statistics tools for the analysis, interpretation and presentation of forensic evidence.

The forensic science community is actively engaged in research (e.g., black box studies) to assess the status of analysis evidence in various pattern disciplines (e.g., handwriting, shoeprints) and is also working to develop standards and guidelines for presenting interpretations and opinions regarding forensic evidence. In addition, research by CSAFE and other investigators is exploring new approaches to the analysis of forensic evidence. All of these activities suggest that increased awareness of key concepts from statistics and probability are critically important for forensic stakeholders including forensic science practitioners. During its initial funding period CSAFE has developed training materials and offered seminars, webinars and workshops that attempt to address this need. It is important that we continue and expand these activities in CSAFE 2.0. 

The original workshop that was developed was a full-day workshop consisting of introductory material on probability and statistics followed by more detailed discussion of the various approaches to the analysis of forensic evidence (and the associated statistical issues). This material has been presented at a number of forensic laboratories and forensic conferences. In performing these workshops, we have identified a number of needs moving forward. One is the ability to deliver the material in a variety of lengths. For example, a 60-minute version was offered during one of the in-person OSAC meetings. In addition, it would clearly be valuable to offer the material through a series of webinars. Though not as good as in-person training, webinars can provide broader coverage. A final identified need is for trainings that address specific disciplines, especially discipline-specific results and research. This project is intended to address these identified needs.

CSAFE provides educational programs that target a large portion of the legal community, including coursework piloted at the University of Virginia and Duke University for law students; boot camps aimed at teaching practicing lawyers how to interact with forensic examiners; case-based workshops aimed at conveying probability and statistics concepts to lawyers and judges; and conferences that bring together lawyers, statisticians, and forensic practitioners. CSAFE also has created continuing legal education (CLE) materials and approaches and have presented at CLE programs across the country. Additionally our efforts are aimed at developing trainings, model policies, and procedures for prosecutors’ offices, police, and crime laboratories.

The goal of this project has been to design innovative educational programs to reach both law students and practicing lawyers, and connect them with forensic industry practices and professionals. We designed and disseminated curricula and course materials widely. We developed a novel mock trial “boot camp” for lawyers on forensics, in which they prepare and question a fingerprint examiner on the stand during a day-long trial. We convene forensic science seminars, for law students who write upper-level research papers, but also to bring together researchers and CSAFE collaborators. We have convened a CSAFE forensics, statistics and law conference, which has resulted in publications, and an interdisciplinary conversation between lawyers, judges, crime lab leadership, statisticians, psychologists, law professors and researchers across disciplines.  We offer a unit on forensic science in the May judicial education program run by the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School, which convenes judges from around the country for high level discussions and training. A wide range of continuing legal education offerings have been provided as part of this project as well, to lawyers at the state and federal level. Each March this project assists with an all-day intensive forensic science training program for lawyers at Duke Law. We have published in law reviews, most accessible to lawyers, including by creating archives of judicial rulings on forensic science, to create resources for prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges. Our goal for CSAFE 2.0 is to expand this work, including by providing training with more informative materials, and by creating online legal repositories for both legal practitioners and forensic practitioners.

The goal of this project is to develop educational materials for teaching statistics as it is applied in forensic science targeting students from a range of backgrounds, including statistics students with limited prior knowledge of forensic science (who may become attracted to forensic applications and advance research goals and applications in forensic evidence), and forensic science students with limited prior knowledge of statistics (who can advance the application of statistics in forensic science).  A specific goal of this project seeks to increase the statistical literacy of the forensic science workforce through encouraging the teaching of forensic statistics in forensic science masters programs.  The project will assess interest in novel course offerings among accredited programs and will develop and pilot a new course at West Virginia University. Based on that pilot, the project will create learning materials that can be made available to other institutions.

CSAFE offers summer programs similar to those funded by the NSF’s Research Experiences for Undergraduate Programs. Undergraduate students in statistics and other quantitative areas are invited to spend two summer months carrying out research in statistics for forensic applications.

Forensic questions tend to be multidisciplinary with answers requiring contributions by scientists in different disciplines working together. This is one aspect of forensic practice that popular shows such as CSI have represented realistically. The popularity of those shows has spiked interest among undergraduates pursuing a variety of majors who are choosing a career in forensic practice.

During the initial funding period, students in statistics and other quantitative areas were invited to spend two summer months in Iowa State or Carnegie Mellon to learn about statistics relevant in forensic practice. Many of the students in the summer programs came from CSAFE’s minority partner institutions. The summer program was well received; students and their advisors have provided positive reports and have expressed an interest for these programs to continue.

We plan to expand the summer program to include one or two month long internships of students in collaborating crime labs. The program will offer students two options for summer research, funded by CSAFE: (1) spend two months in Iowa State or West Virginia or (2) spend two months at a crime lab, or combine both. The idea is to provide the students with a taste of research (at a partner institution) or practice (at a participating lab).