NCJ Number
202989
Journal
Journal of Forensic Identification Volume: 56 Issue: 6 Dated: November/December 2003 Pages: 700-706
Date Published
November 2003
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the use of proportional analysis as a means of scientifically explaining how a comparison is affected.
Abstract
Proportional analysis is a systematic approach to comparative analysis, and any scientific comparison is a verifiable reconstruction of visual information with sufficient measurable detail in a sequential alignment. The ability to accurately consider any information relies on the ability to give visual value to observed phenomena. Proportional analysis is based on the proportions that are present between the features targeted for recognition. The author maintains that it is both the visual grouping and the assignment of visual values, based on measurements within target groups, that allows an examiner to assign meaning to spatial relationships. When investigators use measurement to determine individuality, they are acknowledging a scientific basis for comparisons between geometric features; using proportional analysis renders scientific results. 23 References