RUNNINGHEAD Bias in Criminal Investigations .docx

RUNNINGHEAD: Bias in Criminal Investigations
1
Bias in Criminal Investigations
Alkhamis Abdualziz
Tiffin University
Bias in Criminal Investigations
06/09/2016
An Analogue Study of Confirmation Bias in Criminal
Investigations
Convicting a suspect being guilty is usually a difficult task
more especially to People given the responsibility to carry out
the sentence. These individuals include; police officers, district
attorneys, judges and jury members. This is widely contributed
by risks they may face such as; developing confirmation bias
or tunnel vision. These parties may readily become convinced
that the suspect is guilty, and may then no longer be open to
alternative scenarios in which the suspect is actually innocent
People are biased to test hypotheses by looking for confirmation
rather than by searching for falsification. According to Kassin
(2005) a research bases on psychology suggests that human

beings rarely seek, interpret, and create behavioral data that
verify it’ once they have an impression thus they are inclined
for bias. In a classic study, Lord, Ross, and Lepper (1979) it
was found out that confirmation bias has various definite level
owing to the fact personal opinions do defer.
People have the aspects of favoring confirmation as laps testing
strategy as illustrated by Wason’s card selection paradigm.
They also tend to play a progressive role in producing
information; apart from selectively confirming evidence,
overweighting confirming evidence they also devise strategies
in way that that they are more opportunist driven than
falsification. (Snyder and Swann (1978) which used these case
study to reach for a decision, the more confirming questions the
interviewer asked, and the more likely naïve judges were to
perceive the interviewee as an extravert. Hence, by asking
confirmatory questions, people can actually create confirmatory
behavioral information, even in the eye of the naïve beholder.
Confirmation bias is bound to occur during criminal proceeding
due to the following; incidental miscarriages of justice in which
confirmation bias on the part of police, public prosecution, and
even the judge seems to have play central role. According to
(Posthumus, 2005). Public defense and police seems to develop
some kind of tunnel vision. Another reason is the structure of
criminal proceeding. Judge prompt his verdict by naming the
evidence that has led him to be convinced of the suspect’s guilt.
Yet the process of justifying information is ignored. Criminal
proceedings also affected by confirmation bias as (Meissner and
kassim 2002) suggest. I t is difficult for police officer to change
their minds if they believe that a suspect is lying. Same case
applies to jurors they base their judgments on previous
proceedings. Criminal procedure naturally provoke confirmation
bias.
Three studies has been developed to help in determining
between guilt-confirming and neutral questions. These studies
are as follows;

THE EFFECT OF PRELIMINARY JUDGEMENT ON THE
SELECTION OF INVESTIGATION ENDEAVOURS
This study was conducted to determine whether the concept of
manifestation of confirmation bias which one seeks information
that confirms a previously made decision apply to criminal
procedures. It involved a case on physical abuse in which jurors
were told to determine suspect guilt by carrying out further
investigations. After the study it was found out that Some of
these investigations seem to be aimed at collecting further
incriminating evidence, whereas others seem to be exonerating
in nature, in that they seek for flaws in the incriminating
evidence. These finding confirm that, while incriminating and
exonerating investigations were anticipated as such, there was
no a priori exemption in the noted importance of the two types
of investigations.
It should also be noted that nature of information desired was
determined by prior decisions; those who believed suspect was
innocent they searched for information to confirm he is innocent
while those who believed the suspect was guilty searched for
information to gathering more evidence of guilt. Hence the
importance of procrastinating decisions (about guilt) until all
relevant information is obtained. Preliminary conclusions may
bias subsequent information search, which is detrimental,
especially in case of decisions that affect other people’s lives,
such as criminal convictions
STUDY 2: INHERENT CONFIRMATION AS A FUNCTION OF
EVIDENCE STRENGTH AND CRIME SEVERITY
Its main objective was to determine whether parties tend to
favor incriminating investigations over convicting ones, even if
they have not yet concluded that the suspect is guilty especially
during criminal proceeding. After the study it was found out
that, selection of information convicting investigation increased
with the strength of the evidence and crime cruelty. According
to (Dror et al.’s 2005) sometimes judgment is usually clouded

by our emotion, we should not let the severity of the crime to
affect the content of the fact finding process as seen during
those cruel cases where judges and juries seems to be convinced
the suspect is guilty.
STUDY 3: OBTAINING ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE
Objective of this study was aimed at gathering extra evidence,
this involves conducting further interrogations. At the end of
this study it was found that obtaining incriminating information
would increase participants’ tendency to convict the suspect.
Though it should be noted that further investigation does not
guarantee obtaining needed information.
References
Ask, K., & Granhag, P. A. (2005). Motivational sources of
confirmation bias in criminal investigations: The need for
cognitive closure. Journal of Investigative Psychology and
Offender Profi ling, 2, 43–63.
y Journal of Experimental Psychology, 20, 273–281.

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C o lu m b ia n
RUNNINGHEAD: HOW DNA HELPED IN SOLIVING
FORENSIC CRIMES 1
HOW DNA HAS HELPED IN SOLVING FORENSIC CRIMES
2
HOW DNA HELPED IN SOLIVING FORENSIC CRIMES

Alkhamis Abdualziz
Tiffin University
How DNA helps in solving Forensic crimes.
06/07/2016
How DNA helps in solving Forensic crimes.
Forensic science plays a vital role in crime investigation. Police
apply this technique in different fields ranging from DNA test
to solve crimes. This has further been backed up by the National
Research Council (NRC) who has insisted on the need to widen
the scope on different fields in forensic science, basing on the
fact that DNA is the only method that has shown consistency.
DNA has high affinity to show connection between individual
and source of evidence. With the need to improve forensic
science NRC filed a report comprising measures which should
be applied ,these includes; expanding research on the accuracy,
reliability, and validity of forensic methods and inception of
human witness bias. They further advocated elimination of law
enforcing agencies control in forensic labs hence solving
organization problems.
Over the past decade there have been uncertainty on
manifestation of DNA, to solve this dilemma. Smith and Pell
(2003) published a satirical systematic review of the
effectiveness of parachutes. This case study is directly related
to DNA; the same way parachutes has refined the outcome of
falling down, DNA has also played a major role in solving of
crimes. Some of these major cases solved were deemed to have
no solutions as seen in various publications e.g. September 23,
2006, article in the Washington Post (Jackman, 2006) where 40
year case was solved and murder culprit apprehended.
It has been determined that forensic methods are more effective
compared to existing investigation methods. This has been

attributed by ability of DNA to render a high degree of certainty
when relating a sample of DNA with a specific individual.
However, there have been unanswered queries concerning DNA
application in Crime investigations such as high number of
arrest made as compared to traditional methods. There have
been also limitation to other investigations with a scenario
where latent fingerprint might be used in place of finger print or
DNA analysis hence raising issues on utility of DNA. Field
experimentation has two scopes (Shadish, Cook, & Campbell,
2001) results obtained from this practices help police inform
investigation practices.
DNA is useful in various ways when it comes to solve crimes;
various methodology have been used to determine application of
forensic technology as applied in police office. These methods
include;
The Effect of DNA Testing in Burglary Cases (Roman et al.,
2008)
This study was used in five police department in US. National
Institute of Justice provided each site with additional resources
for conducting DNA analysis on evidence from residential and
commercial burglary cases with biological evidence. The
outcomes measured in this study included suspect identification,
suspect arrest, and referral of the case for prosecution. Its main
objective was to determine the effectiveness of DNA in
deciphering crimes. This study proved that DNA is more
effective as compared to controlled cases which was observed
from this districts. Cost factor was also addressed
The Effect of an Expanding DNA Database at Solving Crimes
(Dunsmuir et al., 2008
The objective of this study was to determine whether the
expansion in the DNA database improved police effectiveness
through a times-series analysis of monthly clearance rates,
charge rates, and the ratio of charge to clearance rates from
1995 through 2007, inclusively. It involved testing DNA of all
inmates and recording the results in existing databases. It was

found that increasing use of DNA databases helps the police
solve crimes. Though a major concern over time series did
emerge.
Quasi-Experimental Assessments of the Effect of DNA on Case
Outcomes (Briody, 2004; Schroeder, 2007; Tully, 1998)
This study was aimed at obtaining an existing bias relating to
quasi-experimental design that compared criminal justice
outcomes in cases with DNA testing relative to cases without
DNA testing. This study was done in Australia and presence of
DNA evidence affected the acceptance of cases for prosecution.
It was found that cases involving sexual offences and homicides
were probably to be executed with the presence of DNA
evidence. In conclusion, DNA evidence increases the
prosecution rate and guilty plea from culprits with cases
involving physical assaults.
DNA evidence and testing suggests that these cases were
fundamentally different and more difficult to solve.
DNA testing for volume crimes represents an important shift in
the way DNA is used in the investigative process. There has
been further improvement in DNA testing, DNA databases
allows the direct identification of suspects by testing crime
scene DNA samples against a database. This has been really
helpful when solving crimes. (Briody, 2005; Dunsmuir et al.,
2008; Roman et al., 2008)
DNA has a major utility in big level of solving crimes in
affecting the overall clearance rate, for high volume crimes
often committed by repeat offenders. It also helped the police in
obtaining new leads.
The use of different forensic methods involve opportunity costs,
which can be quite expensive when considering that the choice
between options may be the difference between identifying a
suspect or not. Understanding the conditions under which a
particular investigative approach is more or less likely to lead
to success in closing cases is valuable and, as the studies
reviewed here illustrate, can be examined through rigorous

empirical methods.
References
Briody, M. (2004). The effects of DNA evidence on the criminal
justice process. Retrieved from Dissertations and Theses
Database. (Australian Digital Theses Program)
Committee on Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science
Community, National Research
Council. (2009). strengthening forensic science in the United
States: A path forward (National Academy of Science Report
No. 2006-DN-BX-0001). Retrieved from http://
www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228091.pdf
Running head: ARTICLE SUMMARY
1
ARTICLE REVIEW
3
Article Summary
Name
Institution Affiliation
Article Summary

Article: The Efficiency of Frisks in the NYPD, 2004–2010
The Frisk program in the New York Police Department (NYPD)
has been a controversial subject concerning its legality,
efficiency, and equity. In the article titled, The Efficiency of
Frisks in the NYPD, 2004–2010, Joseph Ferrandino adapts a
different research methodological approach in the police
frisking issue. Previously, the frisk policy was approached from
a legal and equity point of view. Allegations of ethnic profiling
in relation to the demographics have surfaced. At times, the
number of frisks done is relatively high in comparison to the
actual police action taken after the frisks are done raising
concerns over their efficiency. Previous studies have revealed
significant disparities in the frisks among black and Hispanic
citizens (Ferrandino, 2013). The frisk policy has been justified
because it helps to control crime and entry of illegal substances
such as drugs. On the other hand, the proponents of the policy
have proposed a purposive and proactive course of action rather
than isolating it as racial or social profiling policy. Researchers
concur that less empirical evidence is available on the
effectiveness of the frisk policy. Considerable literature exists
on the equity of the application of the frisk policy.
Ferrandino adopts a longitudinal approach in the analysis of the
efficiency of the frisk policy. The researcher adopts another
variable of testing the technical efficiency during the frisking of
the suspects. The article explores the efficiency of the frisking
policy, the technical efficiency, the departmental trend over
time, the number of fewer frisks that should occur to achieve
efficiency as well as the number of arrests, gun seizures, and
contraband discoveries based on the amount of frisks performed
annually. The results of the tests on the research items reveal
that frisking by the police is a subjective act based on its nature
and legality. People will always be subjected to frisks even
though no further police action is taken after the event. In this
case, a degree of inefficiency is introduced in the frisk policy as
a policing tool (Ferrandino, 2013). The New York Police
Department been under scrutiny due to the malpractices in the

frisk policy. In this research, the police department has had
informed performance as well as Decision making units that are
inefficient in the application of the frisk policy. Through the
analysis of their effectiveness based on the police action,
technical efficiency during the frisks, and departmental trends,
the NYPD will have the potential of alleviating malpractices
and employ more equitable and effective frisks.
The police officers have various reasons for conducting frisks
and questioning a citizen. Frisking is an intrusive action by
legal standards. Enhancement of technical efficiency in the
frisking will reduce total frisks conducted significantly. The
researcher concurs that the research on efficiency is a complex
issue given that it requires use of precise analytics with
accurate sequencing (Karmen, 2013). The results revealed a
weak negative correlation between change in the number of
frisks and the crime index. The mean output efficiency was
statistically significant and positively correlated to the
proportion of change in reported crime index. Based on these
results, the police would improve the effectiveness of the frisks
by utilizing technology. In summary, the increase in frisks
cannot be justified as an effective mechanism for crime
reduction given that crime index had started to decline even
before the surge in frisks. There are diminishing returns in the
increased frisks as a policy tool. Therefore, the police should
balance its frisks to the outcomes of the frisk policy to improve
its efficiency. Further research is needed on the equity in the
frisks in relation to the number of frisks conducted to help the
police to improve in their work
References
Ferrandino, J. (2013). The Efficiency of Frisks in the NYPD,
2004–2010.Criminal Justice Review, 38(2), 149-168.
Karmen, A. (2013). Zero tolerance in NewYork City: hard
questions for a get-tough policy. Hard Cop, Soft Cop, 23.
Larkin Jr, P. J. (2013). Stops and Frisks, Race, and the
Constitution. Geo. Wash. L. Rev., 82, 1.

Running Head:SUMMARY
This article talks about the efforts that have been carried out by
different entities to ensure Biological diversity and achieve a
win-win situation to both ecology and humankind. There have
been many actors namely the intergovernmental agencies, non-
governmental organizations and individual governments as well
as philanthropists who have been at the first front in ensuring
that elocolog and biodiversity is sustained through some form
of intervention. This intervention has been informed of funding
whereby these reputable bodies finance the efforts to protect the
environment.

Pullin attributes the sources of funding to directly citizens.He
argues that the sources of funds may be the intergovernmental
agencies e.g., the world bank,non governmental organizations
which are normally funded by their members and donors as well
private individuals who are philanthoropic enough to play a part
in this war for environmental sustainability
This article however critically examines the evidence whether
the interventions are working as expected by the funders and
whether the methods that have been employed are effeive. He
argues that these projects receive Billions of shillings per
annum to advance this course. He author casts doubt on the
effectiveness of the processes employed to achieve the
objectives and further argues that the bone of contention not be
projects but the methods used in furthering this aim.His paper is
a call for a very keen and detailed evaluation of the designs in
place to achieve the intervention.He recollects the effort of the
collaboration for environment Evidence(CEE) on systematic
reviews on the impact of the intervention on this menace.
.
He adduces evidence of the review of the effectiveness of
community forest management concludes that there is little and
unsatisfactory evidence.Similary review on the effects of
decentralized forest administration and payment for ecosystem
services reported limited evidence of the viability and the
effectiveness of this reviews. From the findings of strategic
reviews it is now evident that the evidence available is always
very little, does not last for a long time and it is usually poorly
resourced.
To him , winning funding involves demostrating effective
employment of the funds sourced and achieving the best returns
for the funds.There is, therefore, the neeed of an
effectivecriteria of ensureing that there is an effective way of
calculating this effectiveness.Noteworthy is that, most of the

funds are wasted on useless and mostly counter productive
projects.
The CEESR, therefore, have come up with what they call
‘evidence for lack of evidence’ which puts up a case against the
lack of proof to show transparent monitoring and evaluation of
the projects that are funded.He argues that monitoring is lacking
as there is a lack of the most efficient way of ensuring that the
money is well used.Pullin calls for the funders to make sure that
they get value for money.He suggests that the best way to do
that is to ensure that there is effective management as well as
accountability of the recepients of the funds to intervention.
He also calls for the funders to take on the challenge of
ensuring that the entities that are tasked with on programme are
kept in check.He proposes the use of the CEE Sr toinfluence
them to maintain higher standards of accountability and
management of the funds.He sums up by noting that the
intervention will be very valuable in achieving a win –win
situation in the quest for biodiversity conservation.
Running head: SEARCH FOR EVIDENCE 4
Journal Summary
Surname
Institutional Affiliation
Date

Searching for evidence to inform clinical practice is a
theoretical study on how clinical practitioners should obtain
necessary information relevant to their practice. Information
and evidence-based knowledge are vital elements in health
practices and there is need to establish theoretical frameworks
for evidence search in order to make informed choices.
The study involves an introduction which denotes the
importance of retrieving evidence in health care decision
making. High level of skills and well done research reports must
be used to avoid wrong decision being made. It is established
that individual research and studies are not evident and many
systematic reviews and evidence summaries are required to
make a conclusive statement and justification of a decision. A
process of identifying evidence to informed practice has been
provided. It should be conducted as follows: guideline
existence, appraising and adopting specific guideline, searching
related systematic reviews, identify the main provisions, seek
the primitive information and hence obtain a statement
concerning the information (Khan, & Coomarasamy, 2004).
The study investigates the contribution of systematic reviews
towards gaining knowledge. It is identified that reviews consists
of several articles that seek to gain knowledge on a particle
field. The articles seek to identify, select and appraise relevant
primary studies and information. The importance of systematic
review is to lead a less biased information. The study has well
defined questions, literature search, synthesis of findings and
the recommendations. Systematic reviews are well located in
medical libraries and nursing databases.
Search for primary information is also a vital aspect in search
for evidence. Primary knowledge involving the best practices
about etiology, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy should be
included in the literature review of these treatments. The aim of
obtaining the knowledge is to have the necessary guideline to
search for evidence. The knowledge in conjunction with the
patient presentation and patient history provide adequate
knowledge for health decision making (Sackett, 2007). For

every clinical concept concerning a condition, it can be
necessary when the identification of an evidence based decision
to be initiated by a search. Quick searches are meant to support
the day to day practice. Filter searches need to be applied in
support with other literature review. They are facilitated by
research previously done concerning the subject. For instance,
the diagnostic research supports the diagnosis process of a
patient. Useful information such as patient history concerning
the condition, previous similar cases helps a practitioner to
diagnose effectively the condition and this leads to right
decision making based on evidence (Khan, & Coomarasamy,
2004). .
The study emphasis the importance of other sources of
information towards search of evidence. First, you need to
search information from clinical databases concerning some of
the vital decisions. The search in databases helps identify
clinical situations and the history of the activities. Apart from
that, a specific specialist would be of great assistance to a
health officer to make an evidence based medical decision. The
study further considers gathering information from public
domains. Public domains where knowledge can be obtained
include newspaper, blogs and forums. The current trends of
diseases in the public can be determined from these avenues and
this provides a useful knowledge link. The study identifies that
manufacturers of the diagnostic test kits provides necessary
evidence to the evidence based decisions. Other information
such as traditional information may be of great use to enhance
knowledge and create evidence.
The study understands the contribution of all sources of
information to evidence based decisions in a clinical practice.
However careful approach should be taken to avoid biased
information and outdated information concerning a practice.
Reference
Khan, K. S., & Coomarasamy, A. (2004). Searching for
evidence to inform clinical practice. Current Obstetrics &
Gynaecology, 14(2), 142-146.

Sackett, D. L. (2007). Evidence‐based medicine. John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd.

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