Double Loop Podcast

Glenn Langenburg and Eric Ray interview friend-of-the-show, Laura Keck, and dive deep into how forensic evidence is interpreted by a lay person. Does one fingerprint identification vs. 13 fingerprint identifications make a difference? What if the prints were on an inner drug baggie vs. an outer drug baggie? What is an acceptable error rate for latent prints or DNA? What if there is no other forensic evidence? Laura's perspective as a lay person (but with knowledge and interest in forensic science) and what she expects from expert testimony should lead to experts taking a close look at how they testify, what they examine, and how to prepare for court.

Eric Ray shares some big news and then shares a story about the dictionary. Glenn Langenburg brings another Super Fan into the fold as the Double Loop Podcast website starts to come together and some new research from Australia ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dG6Rw8_KLg ). They both then revisit the discussion on investigative leads. It's important to understand the distinction between reporting AFIS hits as preliminary without verification and a true "investigative lead" where there are only limited features in agreement. This episdoe is sponsored by Go Evidence Laboratories.

After arguing about the Mandela Effect, Glenn and Eric catch up on some email and discuss ANAB AR3125 7.8.1.2.2 and how this impacts reporting conclusions. Glenn talks about using verbal LRs to express the perceived weight of evidence. Then the guys review a paper from Israel on investigative leads (Attias, et al. 2015) from J of For Sci & Criminology.

Glenn Langenburg and Eric Ray are proud to be joined by Mark Stolorow. Before his years guiding the creation of the OSAC and his days with NIST, he had a varied history getting kicked out of the chemistry department, avoiding the draft, working as a cop, researching blood typing, and wearing plaid jackets. Listen to the interview for all the details of a fantastic career. This episode is sponsored by GO EVIDENCE LABORATORIES.

Eric Ray and Glenn Langenburg are joined for another episode discussing statistics and probabilities by Professor Christophe Champod from the University of Lausanne. Christophe takes us on a history of his work on fingerprint statistics, his past, current, and future research projects, his hope for the future of statistics in fingerprint comparisons, and how the newest Swiss model is available for use through the Pianos software. This episode is sponsored by GO EVIDENCE.

Eric Ray and Glenn Langenburg interview Australian researcher Gianni Ribeiro at the December 2018 OSAC meeting in Phoenix, AZ. Gianni tells the guys about her research interests studying how juries weigh evidence vs. alibis and other jury studies. She also talks about her impressions of the experts gathered at the OSAC meeting, the discussions going on related to likelihood ratios, and the battles over issues big and small in various subcommittees. This episode is sponsored by GO EVIDENCE LABORATORIES and is sponsored by IDEMIA.

Glenn Langenburg and Eric Ray are joined in-person by Henry Swofford as they discuss his career with the Army Crime Lab and the development of FRStat, a model that produces a similarity score between two compared fingerprints and a ratio of how that score fits into same source or different source distributions. The guys discuss why the model was developed, how it's being used, and some of the models limitations. This episode is sponsed by GoEvidence Forensic Laboratories, and this episode is also sponsored by IDEMIA.

Glenn Langenburg and Eric Ray are joined by Cedric Neumann to discuss all things statistical models, probabilities, likelihood ratios, Bayes factors, and more. Cedric discusses his history of research, his history in forensics, and how that's brought him from Switzerland to the UK to the US. This episode is sponsored by IDEMIA and their new Case AFIS product.

Eric Ray and Glenn Langenburg move into a discussion of a new case with the help of special guest Becki Daher. Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, terrorized California in the mid-1980's before he has caught with the help of fingerprints and new AFIS technology. Becki Daher was working for the Orange County Sheriff's Office at the time and lifted the fingerprint from the car window that eventually led to his arrest. Join us in a discussion of Ramirez's crimes, the terror felt by the residents of California, and the high-tech and low-tech techniques that led to his arrest and conviction. (This episode is sponsored by IDEMIA.)

Eric Ray and Glenn Langenburg wrap up the final episode in their series on Making a Murderer Season 2 with all of the craziness that didn't fit in all the previous episodes. Doesn't the bloodstain shape mean that he's innocent? Or mean that he's guilty? What about the lack of fingerprints? The burn barrel? The carpet cleaner? The bullet wax? Is Teresa even dead? Is the Double Loop Podcast just another part of the grand conspiracy by the government against Steven Avery? The answer to almost all of those questions is "no", but listen anyway as we close out this case. (This episode is sponsored by IDEMIA.)