The decisionalization of individualization

Details

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State: Public
Version: Final published version
Serval ID
serval:BIB_81D0FFC2653E
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
The decisionalization of individualization
Journal
Forensic Science International
Author(s)
Biedermann A., Bozza S., Taroni F.
ISSN
1872-6283
ISSN-L
0379-0738
Publication state
Published
Issued date
05/2016
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
266
Pages
29-38
Language
english
Abstract
Throughout forensic science and adjacent branches, academic researchers and practitioners continue to diverge in their perception and understanding of the notion of 'individualization', that is the claim to reduce a pool of potential donors of a forensic trace to a single source. In particular, recent shifts to refer to the practice of individualization as a decision have been revealed as being a mere change of label, leaving fundamental changes in thought and understanding still pending. What is more, professional associations and practitioners shy away from embracing the notion of decision in terms of the formal theory of decision in which individualization may be framed, mainly because of difficulties to deal with the measurement of desirability or undesirability of the consequences of decisions (e.g., using utility functions). Building on existing research in the area, this paper presents and discusses fundamental concepts of utilities and losses with particular reference to their application to forensic individualization. The paper emphasizes that a proper appreciation of decision tools not only reduces the number of individual assignments that the application of decision theory requires, but also shows how such assignments can be meaningfully related to constituting features of the real-world decision problem to which the theory is applied. It is argued that the decisonalization of individualization requires such fundamental insight to initiate changes in the fields' underlying understandings, not merely in their label.
Open Access
Yes
Create date
17/05/2016 12:30
Last modification date
20/08/2019 14:42
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