Evidence obtained from forensic analysis, such as DNA analysis, is often interpreted asstrong evidence by jurors.
All it takes is the right evidence to piece the story together.
But recentresearchsuggests that the reality of forensic analysis is that it can be subjective and fallible.
This distortion in their evaluation is calledcontextual biasand has been stated to be areasonwhy miscarriages of justice occur.
Ourresearchagrees with this recent research that contextual information may influence the decisions of forensic examiners.
But this may not necessarily be a bad thing.
We believe it is premature to remove context from forensic analysis.
Contextual bias on the part of a forensic examiner does not necessarily mean that errors will be made.
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For example, some studies had a verysmall sample size.
Somelacked a control group.
In others,accuracy was not measured.
So it has beendifficult to generalizeabout the effects of contextual bias on forensic examiners decisions.
Contextual information may also inform the examiner which tests to conduct.
If the examiner knows which questions they must answer, then they may avoid worthless tests.
But this also means they may overlook something.
For example, one piece ofresearchcited a rape-homicide case.
In this case, a forensic laboratory was told by detectives to only analyze the evidence for semen samples.
This meant that the forensic examiners missed blood samples that turned out to be integral to the case.
This view is supported by psychologicalstudieswhich have shown that biased decision processes can lead to accurate decision outcomes.
DNA analysis is often considered as strong evidence by jurors.
This means that jurors could beoverestimatingthe chances of a defendant being guilty.
We suggest that future research employs the skills of both forensic examiners and cognitive psychologists.
Then both skill sets can be used to create realistic experiments.
Only then can proper conclusions be drawn about whether contextual bias is a help or a hindrance.
