Knowledge-driven decision-making - from crime scene to courtroom

Lack of feedback

Prior experience and assumptions are major drivers of the forensic decision-making process, but forensic professionals never get feedback on the consequences of their decisions. Faulty assumptions can therefore unintentionally lead to suboptimal decisions, producing a high degree of variance and a lack of validated knowledge in the early stages of the forensic investigation process.

Interactive decision-making tool

The research project on knowledge-driven decision-making aims to change this by developing an interactive tool that supports complex decision-making within the forensic domain.

Improving investigation and prosecution

The aim of the project is to improve the process of investigation and prosecution by supporting forensic professionals in making decisions in the criminal process. The project touches mainly on the first stage of the investigative process, in which forensic professionals select, sample and prioritise traces at the crime scene.

My goal is to help forensic professionals make decisions based on informed knowledge and to ensure transparency on the choices they make. Using our tool, forensic professionals and other parties in the criminal process can reflect on and learn from past decisions.

Perle Russel

Professional Doctorate candidate

Methodology

Russel will first establish a knowledge base, analysing data from forensic systems of the Police, Public Prosecutor and NFI. Next, she will turn her findings into models that can support decision-making during the crime scene investigation process and help prioritise certain findings over others.

The design goal of this track is to develop a Decision Support System that will make this knowledge available at the right time and in the right way. An interactive system is being developed for this purpose that can factor in human behaviour, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), and ethical and legal aspects involved in the forensic context.

The change goal is to bring about a lasting improvement in the criminal justice process, which can be done by implementing a new decision-making model in the criminal process. Such a model could help professionals make decisions based on validated knowledge, while also improving transparency and giving all actors involved in the criminal justice process a chance to reflect on decisions.

Results

The knowledge collected in this study forms the basis for the Decision Support Systems, with discussions with professionals and experiments revealing what is needed to best support the decision-making process. Users are closely involved in the development of Decision Support Systems, and researchers look carefully at users' information needs (and those of other actors in the criminal justice chain), and the context in which decisions are made.

Once developed, the Decision Support Systems will be tested in practice in a living lab, after which they will be refined and improved. The implementation and use of these systems will lead to a sustainable intervention in the work process of the National Police and the Public Prosecution Service.

Education

The project has close ties to teaching at AUAS, as the knowledge needed for the study is supplemented and validated with student experiments. Insights revealed by data analysis and experimental work are also shared directly with the field through education, infographics and knowledge clips.

Partners

All actors in the criminal justice system are involved in the project, including the National Police, the Public Prosecution Service (OM), the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), the legal profession and the professional judiciary. Researchers also work with knowledge institutions that offer lifelong education courses to current and future professionals (AUAS, Police Academy, NFI, VU University, University of Amsterdam, SSR).

Contact

For more information, please contact Perle Russel.