Statistical Bibliographic References *
Amazon = Click title to purchase online now
Other Hyperlinks = To listed books, articles, or publishers...most are available online
Statistics
and the Evaluation of Evidence for Forensic Scientists (Amazon)
by Colin Aitken
Hardcover
Published by John Wiley & Sons
Publication date: July 1995
Author's comments: The use of statistical and probabilistic methods and models in forensic science is of increasing importance, as demonstrated by the widespread public interest in DNA profiling evidence. However, such methods and models are appropriate to a range of other situations also of relevance to forensic scientists. Assuming only a modest mathematical background, the book uses data-based examples from a forensic science background to illustrate, with careful presentation and explanation, the relevant statistical concepts and methods. Topics covered include: - transfer evidence; - the likelihood ratio approach for evaluating evidence under conflicting hypotheses produced by the prosecution and the defence; - the interpretation of quantitative results: the prosecutor's and defender;s fallacies; - the examination of DNA profiling, blood groups, glass fragments, etc. The clarity of exposition makes this book ideal for all forensic scientists, lawyers and other professionals in related fields interested in the quantitative assessment and evaluation of evidence.
The
Use of Statistics in Forensic Science (Amazon)
(Ellis Horwood Series in Forensic Science)
by Colin Aitken, D.A. Stoney
Hardcover
Published by Ellis Horwood Ltd
Publication date: November 1991
Brent's notes: Statistics are the things
that make DNA and other physical
class evidences practical in court, so
here they are. I'd say DNA was individuating evidence in front of any
jury of 12, but after Simpson.....?
Author's comments: The main purpose of
this book is to describe ways of
assessing forensic science evidence and the means
of communicating this
assessment to a court of law. A clear exposition
of probability from the Bayesian
perspective is provided. The underlying theme of
the book is the emphasis on
the importance for the assessment of the value of
associative evidence linking a
suspect and a crime scene, of the comparison of
two probabilities, the first being
that of the evidence if the suspect is guilty,
the second being that of the evidence
if the suspect is innocent. Edited as a joint
venture between a statistician and a
forensic scientist, both leaders in the field of
evidential assessment, this book
brings together contributions from leading
researchers in the area. Technical
expressions are kept to a minimum, with readers
wanting more information on a
particular test being referred to standard
textbooks as and when necessary. The
editors' aim is to ensure that proper attention
is paid by the courts to
consideration of the probability of the evidence
of association if the suspect is
innocent as well as to this probability if the
suspect is guilty.
* Comments & reviews courtesy of Brent Turvey of Knowledge Solutions.