Investigation Bias

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module 3.2 or less than 3.2

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is talking about investigation bias

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because we're following a scientific process.

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But because we're also human,

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there are often times where we will make a preconception, as we talked about, an expert can put aside their preconceptions, but

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you have tow. Have a new awareness

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of the biases that you might have in order to

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understand and fully appreciate

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how to set aside your biases.

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In this video,

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we're going to talk about how to recognize and address Biasi in the investigative process.

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So let's start off. What is bias

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Bias is a disproportionate weight in favor of or against annoy, idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed minded, prejudicial or unfair.

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As forensic examiners, we definitely don't want to

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come in with a preconceived notion off what the outcome of a case is going to be,

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and it's hard to dio. It's not an easy thing to Dio.

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It takes a lot of practice, but what makes great experts are they're able to look at the evidence and not rush to judgment.

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There are

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four really common

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forms of bias.

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Inherent bias, unconscious bias, confirmation, bias and halo or horn bias.

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Inherent bias is everything we do everything that we look at. We've got an inherent bias.

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You're gonna have biases based on your experience.

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You're going to find something you're going to

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by virtue of being a forensic examiner. Perhaps

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you're have an inherent bias e for or against your,

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um,

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the suspect in the cakes.

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And you're gonna have an inherent bias See towards your client

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the client that's hired you.

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You want to either prove that they did or didn't dio that the suspect did or didn't dio what was what they're being accused off

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unconscious bias. This is really a tough one on one that's actually quite fascinating to me,

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but it's the idea of unconscious bias. It's the idea that sometimes we have biases. We don't even realize

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we have

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we.

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And oftentimes those unconscious biases are one of the two biases were about to talk about confirmation. Bias is where

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we are biased towards

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confirming a set of facts or set of ideas that we believe to be true.

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The facts that are given to us by our clients

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are

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bias. Our inclination is to try to confirm that those air. In fact, true

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whether or not and to the exclusion off other biases

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and also halo or horn the idea that you're automatically bias predisposed toe either thinking that all people are good or all people are bad.

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All people are guilty.

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All people are innocent,

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and in our

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this is different from the idea of innocent until proven guilty.

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But it's the idea that your bias see that you could be biased

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towards just towards either believing that everybody is good or everyone is bad, that everyone is innocents or everyone is guilty.

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And

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the idea that

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you're going to find evidence that's going to either prove or disprove

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your inherent your built in your unconscious bias.

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What are the dangers of biases?

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Well, they can lead to self fulfilling conclusions,

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that confirmation, bias, that bias, that I'm gonna prove

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what I what I need to prove, and I'm gonna do it come hell or high water.

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So you open yourself up to creating conclusions that air self fulfilling where you find the evidence and you're you only look at the evidence in a way that

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identifies it and makes it

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self fulfilling to you or to your client

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biases can also lead to a misinterpretation of evidence.

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You might find that the evidence says that the individual

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had a proclivity for looking at pornographic material.

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But because you've met the person

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because you or because you have a

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halo or halo or horn Biasi,

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you might say that can't be. This person wouldn't do it

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there. Are there the pastor of the church,

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They're the rabbi at a synagogue.

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There's no way

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your bias he has led you to misinterpret the evidence.

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The other problem is that you might improperly discount evidence.

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Well, this person would never do this. This person would never do that. So

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we got to just believe that this evidence isn't telling us the truth.

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The evidence is the evidence, the fax or the fax. And it's important that we set aside our biases and that we look at the fax

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through clear lens and say, Is this reasonable?

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Does Could this explain what it's meant to explain? And of course, there's gonna be caveats. Of course, there's gonna be

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couching of your conclusions off course. There's going to be some element where you're going to say it could be this, but it also could be this,

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and that's not improperly discounting evidence or misinterpreting or building self fulfilling conclusions.

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It's just the case that

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something maybe one thing or the other or multiple multitude of different things.

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So it's important to not improperly discount evidence

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because that may lead to

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misinform during correct

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conclusions or opinions.