5 ms·

Open Forensic Science in R

189 points by josefslerka 7y ago

weinzierl 7y ago
The principal chapter headers are: 2 Validation of DNA Interpretation Systems 3 Firearms: bullets 4 Firearms: casings 5 Latent Fingerprints 6 Show Outsole Impression Evidence 7 Trace glass evidence: chemical composition 8 Decision-making in Forensic Identification I have no interest in forensics at all but I think my evening is gone. This is truly nerd snipping material.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
poissonr 7y ago
Is R commonly used in forensics?
costaction 7y ago
Related: Digital forensic: Evidence analysis via intelligent systems and practices. European project COST (cooperation in science and technology) https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA17124/#tabs|Name:overview https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA17124/#tabs|Name:overview
ImaCake 7y ago
Figure 2.1 is a nice graphic illustration of how to make a tidy/long form dataset from a wide format dataset. Nice!
carlosgg 7y ago
7 of the 8 authors listed are women, pretty cool.
- dfsegoat 7y ago
  Anecdotally, it has been my (limited) experience that the Forensic Sciences are dominated by women, in terms of the makeup of the average lab at the academic or state/federal level. Academic programs seem to show this trend as well: https://news.psu.edu/story/276199/2013/05/07/research/probing-question-do-women-dominate-field-forensic-science https://news.psu.edu/story/276199/2013/05/07/research/probin... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19409040802629744 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1940904080262974... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589871X19301305 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589871X1... Source: Worked in a forensic genetics laboratory during my undergrad, and some of my best friends are forensic scientists.
omarhaneef 7y ago
I have a feeling the seeds of several mystery novels will be laid tonight. If the Times — years from now — hails anyone as the Agatha Christie of R analysis, I’ll think back to this article.
hansmrtn 7y ago
It's always nice to see an interesting and quality R package.
scanny 7y ago
I had a look around, but I don't think there are any sources for Forensic Data that are publicly available. I don't know of any resources where data that has been extracted from some crime scene(s) can be downloaded. How could one build on their knowledge after going through this resource if they would like to?
- jointpdf 7y ago
  One good source might be NIST. Here’s an open access ballistics dataset: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/nist-ballistics-toolmark-database https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/nist-ballistics-toolm... Edit: I should have looked at the linked book first, since this dataset is listed in Ch3. Oops.
Hitton 7y ago
Sometimes you don't know what you've been missing until you are shown. This is one of such things. Only thing that could possibly make it better is chapter on bloodstain pattern analysis.

189 points by josefslerka 7y ago

The principal chapter headers are: 2 Validation of DNA Interpretation Systems 3 Firearms: bullets 4 Firearms: casings 5 Latent Fingerprints 6 Show Outsole Impression Evidence 7 Trace glass evidence: chemical composition 8 Decision-making in Forensic Identification I have no interest in forensics at all but I think my evening is gone. This is truly nerd snipping material.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

poissonr 7y ago

Is R commonly used in forensics?

costaction 7y ago

Related: Digital forensic: Evidence analysis via intelligent systems and practices. European project COST (cooperation in science and technology) https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA17124/#tabs|Name:overview https://www.cost.eu/actions/CA17124/#tabs|Name:overview

ImaCake 7y ago

Figure 2.1 is a nice graphic illustration of how to make a tidy/long form dataset from a wide format dataset. Nice!

carlosgg 7y ago

7 of the 8 authors listed are women, pretty cool.

dfsegoat 7y ago
Anecdotally, it has been my (limited) experience that the Forensic Sciences are dominated by women, in terms of the makeup of the average lab at the academic or state/federal level. Academic programs seem to show this trend as well: https://news.psu.edu/story/276199/2013/05/07/research/probing-question-do-women-dominate-field-forensic-science https://news.psu.edu/story/276199/2013/05/07/research/probin... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19409040802629744 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1940904080262974... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589871X19301305 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589871X1... Source: Worked in a forensic genetics laboratory during my undergrad, and some of my best friends are forensic scientists.

omarhaneef 7y ago

I have a feeling the seeds of several mystery novels will be laid tonight. If the Times — years from now — hails anyone as the Agatha Christie of R analysis, I’ll think back to this article.

hansmrtn 7y ago

It's always nice to see an interesting and quality R package.

scanny 7y ago

I had a look around, but I don't think there are any sources for Forensic Data that are publicly available. I don't know of any resources where data that has been extracted from some crime scene(s) can be downloaded. How could one build on their knowledge after going through this resource if they would like to?

jointpdf 7y ago
One good source might be NIST. Here’s an open access ballistics dataset: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/nist-ballistics-toolmark-database https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/nist-ballistics-toolm... Edit: I should have looked at the linked book first, since this dataset is listed in Ch3. Oops.

Hitton 7y ago

Sometimes you don't know what you've been missing until you are shown. This is one of such things. Only thing that could possibly make it better is chapter on bloodstain pattern analysis.