The study compared the Slooten and Caliebe solution with several existing practices. The authors own experience is that most laboratories, including their own, assign the number of contributors, by allele count and a manual examination of peak heights. The LRn for one or a very few values is calculated and typically one of these is presented, usually the most conservative. This gives an acceptable approximation. Reassessing the number of contributors if LR=0 and adding one to N under both Hp and Ha to "fit" the POI may lead to a substantial overstatement of the LR. A more reasonable option is to allow optimization of the assignment under Hp and Ha separately. The authors show that an additional contributor explained the single locus profile better when PHR is greater than or equal to 0.51. This is in line with current interpretation approaches. Collectively. these trials and the solid theoretical development suggest that the Slooten and Caliebe approach performs well. (publisher abstract modified)
The effect of varying the number of contributors in the prosecution and alternate propositions
NCJ Number
254181
Journal
Forensic Science International-Genetics Volume: 38 Dated: January 2019 Pages: 225-231
Date Published
January 2019
Length
7 pages
Annotation
Using a simplified model, this study examined the effect of varying the number of contributors in the prosecution and alternate propositions for a number of simulated examples.
Abstract