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Structuring cases into propositions, assumptions, and undisputed case information.

  • Taylor D College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100 Adelaide SA, 5001 Australia; Forensic Science SA, GPO Box 2790, Adelaide, 5001 SA, Australia. Electronic address: Duncan.Taylor@sa.gov.au.
  • Kokshoorn B Netherlands Forensic Institute, P.O.Box 24044, NL-2490AA, The Hague, The Netherlands.
  • Hicks T Faculty of Law, Criminal Justice and Public Administration, School of Criminal Justice, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Fondation Pour la Formation Continue Universitaire Lausannoise (UNIL-EPFL), 1015 Dorigny, Switzerland.
  • 2019-11-23
Published in:
  • Forensic science international. Genetics. - 2020
Activity level propositions
Bayesian networks
Case information
Evidence evaluation
Proposition formulation
English In this short publication we address the topic of evaluation of biological results given activity level propositions, particularly when the source of the biological material is not in question. When the issue regards the mechanisms or actions that led to the deposition of the biological material concerned, there is a need for more case information than when the issue pertains to the source of the DNA. It is up to the scientist to structure the provided case information into propositions, assumptions and undisputed case information. In our statements, deciding what goes in the propositions and what will be part of the paragraph dedicated to case information is partly personal. It may however affect the way we think about a case and thereby have consequences for the evaluation of the results as well as for the communication of the information to the recipient. In particular we highlight the importance of considering and communicating all DNA transfer mechanisms that are relevant to the evaluation under each proposition, and how the way the propositions are thought about (and expressed) can assist in this endeavour.
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  • English
Open access status
bronze
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https://sonar.ch/global/documents/278160
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