Human factors in triaging forensic items: Casework pressures and ambiguity aversion

Triaging is an important step in deciding which items collected from crime scenes to select for forensic analysis, and so subsequent examination and findings often depend on it. This study aims to evaluate the influence of casework pressures and tolerance to ambiguity on triaging of items collected from a crime scene. A realistic pressure manipulation paradigm was developed and was found to be effective in inducing feelings of pressure in participants in an online setting. This pressure manipulation did not affect triaging decisions for both triaging experts (N = 48) and non-experts (N = 98). However, the results revealed inconsistent decisions, even among experts under identical pressure conditions and comparable background demographics. The findings also suggest that ambiguity aversion is an important factor to consider, as it can play a role in early hypotheses (e.g., reaching a decisive or inconclusive impression about a case), among other considerations. This study offers valuable insight for the development of policies for more consistent forensic triaging decisions.