Quantifying and Evaluating Forensic Evidence
Date: 18th - 19th March 2013
Duration: 2 days
Delivered by: Dr David Lucy
Registration deadline has passed.
Please contact psc@lancaster.ac.uk for more information about this course.
Cost
The course fees include all supporting documentation and refreshments.
- External from industry/commerce - £510
- External from academic institution/public sector/charity - £440
- External postgraduate student - £300
- Lancaster University staff - £120
- Lancaster University postgraduate student - £60
- Members of Mathematics and Statistics at Lancaster University - £ 0
Course description
This course is aimed at professionals from law, law enforcement, and forensic science, who have a need for greater quantification of their findings for presentation in the criminal or civil justice systems. It aims to give, to those whose mathematical skills may be minimal, a basic grounding in the evaluation of observations commonly made by forensic scientists within a context of evidence.
An introduction to probability theory. The third law of probability and generalization to dependent events, and joint, unconditional and conditional probability. This will lead to Bayes’ theorem and extension to non-data priors, then the likelihood ratio will be introduced as a measure of evidential strength.
Simple examples from forensic casework will be taught as an interactive session. Then the ideas will be developed to statistical genetics, including Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, linkage equilibrium; the evaluation of DNA matching evidence, this will include sub-population effects, and which databases to use.
Learning
The course will enable students to:
- evaluate forensic and other forms of legal evidence (including DNA and object matching types of evidence) using a likelihood ratio approach.
- regard observations as evidence within a structured framework of propositions, and to appropriately treat these observations using statistical methods.
Cancellation Policy
Registrations are transferable to another course or individual at any time. Full refunds will be given for cancellation 10 or more working days before the course start date. Otherwise the full course fee will be charged.