ABSTRACT
The frequentist and Bayesian approaches are the most commonly applied. However, alternative approaches to inference have been proposed. These generally try to take advantage of the strengths of the two most common approaches while addressing their perceived weaknesses. A variety of well-established techniques with good frequentist properties such as the t-test and analysis of variance have been developed and applied broadly. There are, however, some conceptual difficulties associated with frequentist confidence intervals and hypothesis tests. For many types of evidence, including fingerprints, shoe prints, firearms and tool marks, bloodstain pattern analysis and handwriting, current practice relies on the opinion of a forensic expert who analyzes the evidence based on training, experience and the standards of the field. The field of statistics, with its emphasis on understanding uncertainty and sources of variability, has much to contribute to the fields that analyze forensic evidence.
