ExpectedOutcome:
Projects’ results are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- Increased European common forensic investigation capabilities and cross-border exchanges thanks to a better understanding of main organisational cultures and of human interactions in the forensic context, and of the main causes of biases in interpretation and reasoning;
- Strengthened bridges between different actors in an investigative process through an improved non-ambiguous communication and enhanced communication mechanisms at all levels;
- Improved European common forensics investigation capabilities and cross-border exchanges thanks to a common, modern lexicon that is used by forensic institutes and Police Authorities, validated against practitioners' needs and requirements, to facilitate their (specialised) daily work on investigating terrorism and other forms of serious crime;
- Development of safer justice outcomes through an increased understanding of how human interactions impacts on decisions at all levels of an investigative process;
- Modern and robust methods of reasoning and of experts’ decision making in forensic practice, overcoming various types of biases;
- Forensic institutes and Police Authorities active in crime scene investigations benefit from innovation education and training curricula.
Scope:
Security research projects related to forensics typically focus only on technologies and data, while the process by which forensic experts evaluate and interpret the evidence is often put aside. However, cognitive methods and human judgement play a significant role as forensic experts observe and interpret the data. By doing this, forensic experts are almost inevitably exposed to irrelevant contextual information (such as suspect’s criminal record or ethnicity, a type of the information that can be obtained due to a liaison between a forensic expert and investigators, police and the prosecution), which can potentially cause bias. In contexts where digital technologies are involved in creating forensic outcomes, biases and loss of transparency can also arise from different roles and disciplinary backgrounds of the different actors working on and with the digital tools. Communication between practitioners within the same institute can introduce a bias as well. When exchanging the information cross-border, both organisational cultures and languages can also cause a bias.
Understanding how human interaction, both internally and in the European context, impacts on decisions at all levels of an investigative process is critical for the development of safe justice outcomes. In forensic practice, it is crucial to understand the impacts of various types of biases on interpretation and reasoning, and to develop methods to increase the robustness of reasoning and of experts’ decision making. Research is needed to evaluate, develop and enhance methods and cognitive techniques to communicate non-ambiguously in the forensic and legal context, as well as to develop, improve and enhance communication mechanisms between the actors of the criminal justice chain.
That being said, in the European context, a critical enabler for an improved collaboration and communication between forensic practitioners is the use of a clear, consistent vocabulary. Such a shared vocabulary would, among others, allow for a common understanding of forensics, improve structured (cross-border) data sharing, and amplify the (cross-border) acceptance of evidence in court. There is hence a need for a development of a common lexicon, able to adapt to the evolving aspect of forensic technologies.
This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities. Coordination with successful proposals under topic HORIZON-CL3-2022-FCT-01-04 and HORIZON-CL3-2022-FCT-01-01 (on common data formats) should be envisaged so as to avoid duplication and to exploit complementarities as well as opportunities for increased impact. Where relevant, coordination should also be foreseen with actions and results of projects under Justice Programme (2014-2020)[1]. Operational examples should also be considered, where relevant in line with activities of the SIRIUS Project[2]. In addition, cooperation with the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI) would be welcome.
Cross-cutting Priorities:
Social sciences and humanities
[1]Call JUST-AG-2016-01, topic JUST-JCOO-CRIM-AG-2016, including project EVIDENCE2e-CODEX and the JUD-IT Project (Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters and Electronic IT Data in the EU: Ensuring Efficient Cross-Border Cooperation and Mutual Trust).
[2]SIRIUS has received funding from the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) under grant agreement No PI/2017/391-896.
