OBJECTIVE Two experiments examined the potential for inconclusive forensic decisions to disadvantage the innocent. HYPOTHESES Both experiments tested the hypothesis that inconclusive decisions produce more incriminating legal judgments than do clearly exculpatory forensic decisions. Experiment 2 also examined whether this hypothesized effect conformed to a confirmation bias, a communication error, or perceptual accuracy. METHOD In Experiment 1 (N = 492), a forensic expert testified that physical evidence recovered from a crime scene either matched or did not match a suspect's evidence or produced an inconclusive result. In Experiment 2 (N = 1,002), a forensic expert testified that physical evidence recovered from a crime scene either matched or did not match a suspect's evidence, produced an inconclusive result, or was unsuitable for analysis. A fifth condition omitted the forensic evidence and expert testimony. RESULTS The inconclusive decision produced less incriminating legal judgments than did the match forensic decision (|d|average = 0.96), more incriminating legal judgments than did the no-match forensic decision (|d|average = 0.62), and equivalent legal judgments to the unsuitable decision (|d|average = 0.12) and to legal judgments made in the absence of forensic evidence (|d|average = 0.07). These results suggest that participants interpreted the inconclusive decision to be forensically neutral, which is consistent with a communication error. CONCLUSION The findings provide preliminary support for the idea that inconclusive decisions can put the innocent at risk of wrongful conviction by depriving them of a clearly exculpatory forensic decision. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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不确定的法医判决是否对无辜者不利？


目的 两项实验检验了不确定的法医判决是否有可能损害无辜者的利益。假设 这两个实验都检验了这样的假设：与明确无罪的法医判决相比，非结论性的判决会产生更多有罪的法律判决。实验 2 还检验了这种假设效应是否符合确认偏差、沟通错误或感知准确性。方法 在实验 1（N = 492）中，一名法医专家证明，从犯罪现场找到的物证要么与嫌疑人的证据匹配，要么不匹配，或者产生不确定的结果。在实验 2（N = 1,002）中，一名法医专家证明，从犯罪现场找到的物证要么与嫌疑人的证据匹配，要么不匹配，产生不确定的结果，或者不适合分析。第五个条件省略了法医证据和专家证词。结果 与匹配的法医判决相比，非结论性判决产生的有罪法律判决较少（|d|平均值 = 0.96），比不匹配的法医判决产生的有罪法律判决更多（|d|平均值 = 0.62），以及与不适当的决定（|d|平均值 = 0.12）以及在缺乏法医证据的情况下做出的法律判决（|d|平均值 = 0.07）。这些结果表明，参与者将不确定的决定解释为法医中立，这与沟通错误一致。结论 研究结果为以下观点提供了初步支持：非决定性的判决可能会剥夺无辜者做出明确无罪的法医判决的机会，从而使他们面临误判的风险。 （PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2024 APA，保留所有权利）。