Skip to main content

Voice Comparison

Voice Comparison
Voice Comparison

Forensic sciences is the application of scientific principles and techniques to matters of the Criminal Justice system in relating to the collection, examination, and analysis of physical evidence. Among the various types of forensic sciences there is voice comparisons. Voice comparison is the analysis of a spectrograph, which is an instrument that generates a visual pattern depicting an audio recording (Garrett, p.106). Lines are used to represent the frequency and intensity of the sound wave over time (Garrett, p.106). Voice comparison is used in court on a case to case basis as evidence to match or compare similarities between two identified voices over recordings or other mediums. Voice comparison has had a long debated and controversial history in the Criminal Justice system and even though this practice has been used in several court cases, it is currently seen as an invalid scientific analysis. When examining the validity of voice comparison, many factors must be reviewed such as poor recording conditions and mismatch of speaking styles. All must be taken into account when providing evidence that meets the standard for criminal court (Morrison).

In 1979, the National Academy of Science issued a report saying that the use of voice spectrographic analysis to identify individuals, “is not adequately supported by scientific evidence” (Garrett, p.106). After the collection of evidence opposing the fact that voice comparison is scientifically recognized, the Federal Bureau of Investigations stopped permitting its agents to testify using voice comparison as evidence. Since voice comparison does not meet legal standards it is not used as prosecutable evidence but there are laws against the use of it in courts. So there are still some courts in which the judges allow this as valid evidence (Garrett, p.106). Due to media the public however does not really know how illegitimate the science behind voice comparisons is therefore it can still effect the juries decisions. As a result, there have been some court cases that have convicted innocent people due to incorrect voice comparisons. 


Work Cited
Garrett, B.L. Convicting the Innocent: Where criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong. Harvard University               Press. 106.
Morrison, G.S.,& Enzinger, E. (2016). Multi-laboratory evaluation of forensic voice comparison                   systems under conditions reflecting those of a real forensic case (forensic_eval_01) -                           Introduction. Speech Communication. 85119-126



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Case of Ronald Cotton

The Case of Ronald Cotton The Crime In July of 1984, in North Carolina, a white woman named Jennifer Thompson was sleeping in her apartment when a man cut her phone lines, shattered her porch light, and broke into her apartment. She woke up to the man standing next to her bed, holding a knife to her throat. Over the next half hour, she was brutally raped, but Jennifer made herself study her attacker so, if she ever got the chance, she would be able to identify him and send him to prison. After tricking her assailant into letting her get up, she escaped and went to the hospital. Her assailant fled the scene, only to rape another woman half a mile away. Investigation and Trial With Jennifer’s help, the police were able to create a composite sketch of her attacker, using the details she studied while she was being attacked. After the sketch was released to the public, tips were received about a man named Ronald Cotton who worked in the area, and had a prior felony r...
Post a Comment
Read more

David Shawn Pope

Voice Comparison Convicts The Crime In July of 1985 in Dallas County, Texas, a man knocked on a woman’s door asking if somebody lived there, and then immediately left. The following morning at 6 AM the woman awoke to find the man standing over her bed with a knife. He assaulted and raped her, and fled the scene. She called the police and reported the crime. In the next following weeks, she was contacted by an anonymous caller who she immediately claimed was the rapist because she recognized his voice. He called several times and the police were able to record a few of the calls. The Investigation The victim was able to help produce a composite sketch of the suspect. David Shawn Pope became a suspect after police saw him around the area and thought he looked similar to the sketch. Pope was presented to the victim multiple times in a photo lineup, along with other similar looking males and no identification was made. After there was no identification, those six peop...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bitemark case

Arizona v Ray Krone Background             On December 29, 1991, the body of thirty-six year old Kim Ancona was found nude and fatally stabbed in the men’s restroom of the bar she worked at in Phoenix, Arizona. The perpetrator left behind little evidence, only leaving blood at the crime scene which matched the victim’s type and saliva on her body coming from the most common blood type. No semen was found and no DNA testing was done on the blood or saliva. What investigators did rely on was bite-marks on the victim’s breast and neck.             The police learned from a friend of the victim’s that Ancona was to close up the bar with a regular customer, Ray Krone, that previous night. The police immediately asked Krone to make an impression of his teeth on Styrofoam for comparison. Ray Krone had no previous criminal record, had been honorable discharged from the military, and had ...
Post a Comment
Read more