Performance Study of a Score-based Likelihood Ratio System for Forensic Fingermark Comparison

Anna Jeannette Leegwater*, Didier Meuwly, Marjan Sjerps, Peter Vergeer, Ivo Alberink

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this article, the performance of a score-based likelihood ratio (LR) system for comparisons of fingerprints with fingermarks is studied. The system is based on an automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) comparison algorithm and focuses on fingerprint comparisons where the fingermarks contain 6–11 minutiae. The hypotheses under consideration are evaluated at the level of the person, not the finger. The LRs are presented with bootstrap intervals indicating the sampling uncertainty involved. Several aspects of the performance are measured: leave-one-out cross-validation is applied, and rates of misleading evidence are studied in two ways. A simulation study is performed to study the coverage of the bootstrap intervals. The results indicate that the evidential strength for same source comparisons that do not meet the Dutch twelve-point standard may be substantial. The methods used can be generalized to measure the performance of score-based LR systems in other fields of forensic science.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)626-640
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Forensic Sciences
Volume62
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2017

Keywords

  • n/a OA procedure
  • Bayesian framework
  • fingermarks
  • fingerprints
  • forensic science
  • likelihood ratio
  • strength of evidence
  • automated fingerprint identification system

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Performance Study of a Score-based Likelihood Ratio System for Forensic Fingermark Comparison'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this