Richetelli Nicole, Hammer Lesley, Speir Jacqueline A
West Virginia University, 208 Oglebay Hall, PO Box 6121, Morgantown, WV, 26506.
Hammer Forensics, LLC, 10601 Prospect Drive, Anchorage, AK, 99507.
J Forensic Sci. 2020 Nov;65(6):1871-1882. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.14551. Epub 2020 Sep 17.
Between February 2017 and August 2018, West Virginia University conducted a reliability study to determine expert performance among forensic footwear examiners in the United States. Throughout the study's duration, 70 examiners each performed 12 comparisons and reported a total of 840 conclusions. In order to assess the accuracy of conclusions, the similarities and differences between mated and nonmated pairs were evaluated according to three criteria: (i) inherent agreement/disagreement in class, wear, and randomly acquired features, (ii) limitations as a function of questioned impression quality, clarity, and totality, and (iii) adherence to the Scientific Working Group for Shoeprint and Tire Tread Evidence (SWGTREAD) 2013 conclusion standard. Using these criteria, acceptable/expected categorical conclusions were defined. Preliminary results from this study are divided into a series of three summaries. This manuscript (Part II) reports accuracy and reproducibility. For mated pairs, accuracy equals 76.3% ± 13.0% (median of 78.6% and a 90% confidence interval between 72.2% and 80.0%). For nonmated pairs, accuracy equals 87.4% ± 9.24% (median of 91.4% and a 90% confidence interval between 84.7% and 89.8%). In addition, the community assessed agreement (denoted by IQR) of reported results equals the research team's accepted/expected conclusions for 10 out of 12 comparisons. In terms of reproducibility, the 90% confidence interval for consensus was computed and found to equal 0.71-0.86 (median of 0.77) for the combined dataset. Although based on a limited sample size, these results provide a baseline estimate of accuracy and consensus/reproducibility as a function of the existing seven-point SWGTREAD 2013 conclusion standard.
2017年2月至2018年8月期间，西弗吉尼亚大学开展了一项可靠性研究，以确定美国法医鞋印检验人员的专业表现。在整个研究期间，70名检验人员每人进行了12次比对，并报告了总共840个结论。为了评估结论的准确性，根据以下三个标准评估配对和非配对鞋印之间的异同：（i）类别、磨损和随机获得特征方面的内在一致性/不一致性；（ii）作为可疑鞋印质量、清晰度和完整性函数的局限性；（iii）对鞋印和轮胎痕迹证据科学工作组（SWGTREAD）2013年结论标准的遵守情况。使用这些标准，定义了可接受/预期的分类结论。本研究的初步结果分为一系列三个总结。本手稿（第二部分）报告准确性和可重复性。对于配对鞋印，准确率为76.3%±13.0%（中位数为78.6%，90%置信区间为72.2%至80.0%）。对于非配对鞋印，准确率为87.4%±9.24%（中位数为91.4%，90%置信区间为84.7%至89.8%）。此外，报告结果的群体评估一致性（用四分位距表示）与研究团队对12次比对中的10次的接受/预期结论相等。在可重复性方面，计算了合并数据集的90%共识置信区间，发现其等于0.71 - 0.86（中位数为0.77）。尽管基于有限的样本量，但这些结果提供了作为现有七点SWGTREAD 2013年结论标准函数的准确性和共识/可重复性的基线估计。
