The FRStat is a software application originally developed by employees of the United States Government and provides a statistical assessment of the significance of an association between two friction ridge skin impressions.
The FRStat utilizes established statistical methods to calculate a statistic summarizing the similarity between feature configurations from two separate images of friction ridge skin impressions. The FRStat evaluates the significance of the calculated similarity statistic value among datasets of values from mated and non-mated impressions of friction ridge skin to determine the extent the results support an association. The results provide the capability to empirically substantiate an expert’s opinion and quantitatively represent the value of the fingerprint evidence in a given case while reporting the findings in a more transparent and standardized fashion.
The technical publication in Forensic Science International provides comprehensive details regarding the development and validation of FRStat.
Swofford, H.J., et al. (2018) A Method for the Statistical Interpretation of Friction Ridge Skin Impression Evidence: Method Development and Validation. Forensic Science International. 287:113-126.
Download: Article; Supplemental Appendix I; Supplemental Appendix II; Supplemental Appendix III; Supplemental Appendix IV; Supplemental Appendix V.
Click here to obtain a copy of the latest version of FRStat software