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School of Human Biosciences
Forensic Expertise
Profiling Laboratory
Introduction
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The Forensic Expertise Profiling Laboratory
(FEPL) is a unit of the Handwriting Analysis and Research Laboratory.
The objective of FEPL is to characterise skill and expertise associated
with human perceptual and cognitive processes related to forensic
opinion formation. Forensic handwriting identification is a discipline
that uses these processes almost exclusively when determining the
authorship of questioned writings. This discipline
has therefore become one of our major research
interests.
The FEPL has evolved through collaborations
between the School of Human Biosciences (La Trobe University), the
Documents/criminalistics
Special Advisory Group (which, under the direction of the
Senior Managers of Australian and New Zealand Forensic Laboratories,
represents police and government document examiners in Australia
and New Zealand) and the National Institute of Forensic Science.
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The
FEPL Program for Document Examiners
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Forensic handwriting
examination can simply be regarded as a skill. Document examiners
compare known writings (exemplars or specimens) of individuals with
handwriting that is questioned, and where possible, express an opinion
as to whether or not they share a common author. This skill is applied
to cases which vary according to the amount and complexity of both
the questioned and known material. In order to determine the probative
value of the opinions that document examiners express we need to
test them. Since the material being compared is widely variable
it is the case that no one test will determine the validity of the
claimed skill. Over time, given sufficient trials, a picture of
the skills for individuals should emerge. This will allow us to
determine which aspects of the skill claimed by examiners are valid,
which are not and what the likely error (misleading) rate is for
different types of examination and questioned writing types.
The FEPL manufactures casework style
tests which are used to provide numerical assessments of forensic
handwriting specialists' skill and expertise. These profiles can
be used by the specialists and their employers to monitor the development
of expertise, to detect shortfalls in decision making processes,
and can also be used to characterise skill in courts of law. Skill
profiling experiments are also extensively used to conduct research
into other practical and theoretical issues in forensic decision
making processes.
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The
Current Program
Example
of trial feed back
An important
part of each trial is the Revision and Corrective
Action Package (RACAP) which is provided to participants after the results
of all of the trial's participants have been analysed. Examples of the
infomation contained within a RACAP can be viewed by clicking below.
Example
of numerical analysis of opinions expressed by participants (PDF
format 476Kb)
Example
of questioned image analysis (PDF format 9.2Mb)
Participants
who elect to be profiled are issued with a certificate that profiles
the nature of their skill in terms of error, conservatism and correct
rates. This certificate can provide courts of law with information regarding
forensic handwriting skills that has been previously unavailable.
Group
Certificate example (PDF format 184Kb)
Laboratory
Certificate example (PDF format 184Kb)
Individual
Certificate example (PDF format 180Kb)
Should
you be interested in participating in the trials please contact the FEPL
by emailing
Doug Rogers
Forensic
Publications and Teaching
For a decade now we
have been publishing our material in peer reviewed journals and have been
presenting at conferences, symposia and workshops around the world.
To view a list of publications
of FEPL staff related to the forensic area click
here.
Click
here to view current workshop descriptors.
If you are interested
in learning more about forensic documentation examination
click here for
a list of books on the subject.
Alternatively you can
peruse the online method below.
Method
online
Our laboratory has developed
a method summary in collaboration with document examiners in Australia
and New Zealand. This document is recommended for use in all Australian
and New Zealand government forensic laboratories. This method has been
published and copies of it have been provided to the European Network
of Forensic Handwriting Experts(ENFHEX) and the United States Scientific
Working Group for Documents (SWGDOC).
Should
you wish to view more details, click
here for the latest version of the method.
FEPL Staff
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