Showing papers in "Science & Justice in 1998"

TL;DR: A new approach to decision-making in an operational forensic science organization based on a model, embodying the principles of Bayesian inference, which has been developed through workshops run within the Forensic Science Service for forensic science practitioners is described.

TL;DR: The Bayesian approach to interpreting evidence is now interesting for many reasons, not least being the following firmly established within forensic science.

TL;DR: In this article, the interpretation of footwear marks is formalised and a Bayesian analysis is presented in which the assumptions made are clarified, and the analvsis is broken down into comnonents which reflect different interpretative issues.

TL;DR: Improvements are suggested for the presentation of scientific evidence and for the education of future lawyers and forensic scientists.

TL;DR: The problem of assessing the probability of transfer of tiny fragments in the commission of a crime is examined and some solutions are suggested.

TL;DR: An attempt has been made to explain some of the strongest and most frequently seen dye bands with the aid of spectra obtained from fibres treated with known dyes.

TL;DR: A target fibre survey was conducted to assess the random occurrence of a blue wool fibre on seats in public houses throughout the United Kingdom; nine fibres proved indistinguishable from the target after comparison microscopy, microspectro-photometry and attempts at thin layer chromatography.

TL;DR: Refractive index and metal ion concentrations were determined for four product-use categories: headlamp glass; container glass, non-vehicle window float glass, and vehicle float glass and linear discriminant modelling allowed differentiation of the four glass types but further discrimination was not possible within a product- use category.

TL;DR: The paper describes the construction of a restriction profile of the Internal Transcribed Spacer II of Cannabis sativa L. sativa using Nuclear Ribosomal DNA, using digestion by a selected number of restriction endonucleases.

TL;DR: In this article, a series of problems were developed for, and given to, forensic medicine students' forensic science students and practitioners (advocates and forensic scientists) in Scotland to investigate their understanding of uncertainty.

TL;DR: The EIA for LSD is shown to be a robust method for the screening of urine for LSD when used in conjunction with sample inspection and a sound confirmatory method.

TL;DR: The authors discuss one such situation--that where the number of contributors to the mixture is in dispute, and a way of dealing with the problem is presented.

TL;DR: Using the calculation of conditional probabilities from those given by Balding and Nichols to casework situations where a series of possible DNA types are possible, the error in the estimated likelihood ratios is expected to reduce as the number of additional individuals typed from the subpopulation increases.

TL;DR: This paper will derive an expression that allows a partial quantification of information loss due to the examination of a subset of recovered material that arises with many forms of evidence.

TL;DR: The scarcity of mercury in discharge residue particles from mercury-containing ammunition was investigated and it was found that 86% of the mercury was vaporized after discharge, mainly via the muzzle, 88% of which was not detectable by SEM.

TL;DR: The most common offences brought before the courts under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 and 1984 in relation to controlled drugs were possession and possession for sale or supply of controlled drugs as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: Results indicated that line quality characteristics can be identified in average quality photocopies and accurate judgements can be made regarding similarities and differences in line quality when comparing a photocopied signature with original known standards.

TL;DR: Investigation of potential sources of the contamination showed that it was airborne but random in nature, and it is recommended that frequent examination of air control samples should be made in contamination-sensitive areas.

TL;DR: The PG F assay was shown to be at least ten times more sensitive than the P30 technique although cross reactivity problems with spermicidal creams and other possible domestic contaminants were identified.