New project for evidence-based Criminal Justice receives SEK 18 million in research grants
Moa Lidén is principal investigator of the EB-CRIME project, which will help police officers, prosecutors, coroners and judges to work in an evidence-based way to prevent wrongful convictions.
A project dealing with evidence in criminal cases has been granted a research grant of SEK 18 million. The project "International Center for Evidence-Based Criminal Law" (EB-CRIME) aims to launch a new scientific approach to criminal law - evidence-based criminal justice. It will contribute to guidelines that help police officers, prosecutors, coroners and judges to work in an evidence-based way and thus prevent wrongful convictions.
In the criminal process, errors in the methods used, as well as the human interpretations made, can lead to problems in the form of, for example, incorrect criminal suspicions or convictions, inefficient use of resources and lack of legitimacy. EB-CRIME is the first multidisciplinary research center of its kind made possible by unique innovative collaborations between researchers in nine different disciplines; law, psychology, sociology, forensic genetics, forensic medicine, forensic chemistry, digital forensics, anthropology and information technology, as well as close collaborations with practitioners.Evidence-based criminal justice is based on research using combined multidisciplinary methods (e.g. humanities, engineering and medicine) where sources of error are investigated and analyzed in three different levels:
- First, it evaluates sources of error in the methods and techniques used to produce evidence, such as evaluations of oral statements from suspects and witnesses, digital evidence tools (databases), DNA analyses, forensic methods and methods of age assessment. New technologies based on artificial intelligence and advanced DNA methods are being reviewed, such as software to distinguish DNA from several individuals in so-called mixed DNA traces.
- Secondly, human error sources in the use of these methods are evaluated during the investigation phase. This focuses on different forms of subjectivity, individual differences and group dynamics among police officers, coroners and forensic scientists.
- Third, human error sources are evaluated in the interpretation of the evidence during the court phase, which includes, for example, prosecutors' understanding of possible errors in the evidence and judges' ability to critically review scientifically complex evidence results.
The funder Vetenskapsrådet and the project runs for five years.
Elisabeth Hoff
Participating researchers:
- Marie Allen, Professor of Forensic Genetics, Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University.
- Ingemar Thiblin, Professor of Forensic Medicine, Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University.
- Jacob Andersson Emad, PhD in Forensic Medicine, Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University.
- Anders Hast, Professor of Information Technology (AI), Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University.
- Joakim Sundh, PhD in Cognitive Psychology, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University.
- Ann-Cristin Cederborg, Professor of Child Psychology, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University.
- Daniel Hedlund, PhD in Law and Sociology, Department of Social Work, Stockholm University.
- Sherry Nakhaeizadeh, PhD in Forensic Anthropology, Department of Security and Crime Science, University College London, UK.
- Nina Sunde, PhD in Digital Forensics, Norwegian Police Academy, Norway.
- Moa Lidén is principal investigator and PhD in Law and Psychology at the FAculty of Law, Uppsala University and the Department of Security and Crime Science, University College London, UK.