Effects Of Contextual Information

Contextual information unknowingly affects how opinions and perceptions are made; because it is human nature to associate information with future perceptions, as a way to achieve a sense of security and predictability (Houck & Siegel, 2015). According to Dror et al (2006), contextual information is defined as, information that provides an understanding of the context of an event or issue. In forensic investigations, contextual information affects most areas of forensic science, from blood pattern analysis, to crime scene management; however, contextual information can produce a number of different outcomes with the exact same evidence (Houck & Siegel, 2015). According to Bernstein et al (2013), contextual information can lead to the complete …show more content…
According to Taylor (2016), contextual information influences the classification of the blood patterns; according to his study in 2013, contextual information biased the classification of a specific blood patterns by 20%. In Taylor’s (2016) study, he presented three different types of contextual information, to 16 blood pattern analysts’; to establish whether or not contextual information would bias their results in a way that would or would not conform to the context (Taylor et al, 2016). The results from the study suggested that 69.5 % made the correct classification, regardless of the bias effect of the contextual information, however, the remaining 30.5 % placated to the contextual information, forming incorrect conclusions (Taylor et al, 2016). This biased effect on the classification can affect the formation of a hypothesis of the crime scene reconstruction (James et al, 2013). According to James et al (2013) the crime scene reconstruction happens in four stages, in the first stage is the data collection; this is when the forensic examiners, after the collection and examination of the evidence, to share ideas about the method of operation; however, if there is blood, and the blood pattern expert forms a conclusion, based on the context, it can make the rest of the crime scene reconstruction stages redundant. This is because, if the first step of crime scene reconstruction is biased by contextual information, the information has a strong possibility of being wrong; and if that happens, the investigative process after the collection of the wrong information is redundant or inadmissible in court (O 'Hara & O 'Hara, 2003). There are however some advantages of having contextual information that bias a result; for one reason, it can reduce the amount of time and money used to