Forensic Hand Detail Image Comparison Study:
State of the Discipline Questionnaire

INFORMED CONSENT FORM

Study Title:	Forensic Hand Detail Image Comparison Study ("Hand-IC")
Study Phase:	Hand Image Comparison State of the Discipline Questionnaire ("HandIC-SDQ")
Sponsor:	Noblis, Inc.
Funding Agency:	National Institute of Justice (NIJ Grant #15PNIJ-24-GG-03846-NIJB)
Principal Investigator:	Nicole Richetelli, Ph.D., (703) 610-1715, nicole.richetelli@noblis.org William Chapman, (703) 610-2983, william.chapman@noblis.org
Additional Contact:	For general questions, contact hand@noblis.org
Address:	Noblis, 2002 Edmund Halley Drive, Reston, VA 20191 USA

For your convenience, you can download a full PDF copy of the consent form here. Note: the consent form must be completed online on this page, but you can download, review, and retain the PDF version for your records.

Key Information

What is the purpose of this research?	Hand detail image comparisons are seeing increased use in forensic science, specifically in cases involving child exploitation, sexual assault, kidnapping, and terrorism. In these cases, forensic examiners are asked to determine whether they can identify or eliminate a specific person using only photographs of their hands. These comparisons could be critical for solving these types of cases, but we need a better understanding of how this is being done in practice. This questionnaire is being conducted to characterize the current state of the field for forensic image comparisons, with a specific focus on hand image comparisons. The goal of this study is to provide a baseline understanding of how these image comparisons are done in practice and how often they are used by forensic and investigative agencies.
Who may participate?	Participation is open to all U.S. and Canadian forensic laboratories, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and individuals who currently work as independent forensic practitioners (i.e., are not currently employed by a lab or agency). Participation in the SDQ is not predicated on whether or not the agency conducts image comparison casework.
What are we asking you to do for this study?	If any agency agrees to participate, they will be asked to complete a brief multiple-choice questionnaire regarding the image comparison casework. In general, the questions will collect details regarding your agency’s image comparison training, practice, policies and procedures, and the prevalence of different types of image comparison casework.
How long will this take?	We anticipate that the questionnaire will take no more than 10-15 minutes to complete.

Purpose
Anthropometric and biometric features have been used for forensic science purposes for over a century. Today, examination of many of these features is done by human analysts who conduct comparisons of photographs or videos containing questioned material versus exemplars collected from a known source. These image comparisons can span a wide variety of subject matter, including human body parts or features (e.g., faces, ears, hands, arms, scars, tattoos), clothing, and other non-human objects present in imagery (e.g., vehicles, structures), with much of the research to date focusing on the reliability of facial identification. However, image analysts are often asked to determine whether a hand depicted in a photograph or video can be attributed to a specific individual: this is a common request in cases of child exploitation, sexual assault, human trafficking, kidnapping, and terrorism. To date, there has been limited research conducted to evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of the opinions reported by analysts conducting forensic hand image comparisons.

The Forensic Hand Detail Image Comparison Study (HandIC) is being conducted as a multi-phasic rigorous evaluation of the emerging discipline of hand image comparisons., designed to characterize the current state of the field, assess the decision space and reliability of analyst opinions, evaluate the requisite experience for conducting these comparisons, and understanding the current limitations.

The Hand Image Comparison State of the Discipline Questionnaire ("HandIC-SDQ") is designed to characterize the current state of the field for forensic image comparisons, with specific focus on (but not limited to) hand detail comparisons. The goal of this phase is to provide a baseline for characterizing the current practice and utility of this emerging forensic discipline.

This study is being conducted by Noblis, with extensive assistance from and consultation with subject matter experts (SMEs), under a grant from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ Grant #15PNIJ-24-GG-03846-NIJB).

Participation
Participation is open to all U.S. and Canada forensic laboratories, law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and individuals who are currently independent forensic practitioners (i.e., do not currently work for a laboratory or agency); for brevity, we collectively refer to this group of eligible participants as "agency" moving forward.

Agencies from the U.S. and Canada are welcome to participate, provided that the representative completing the questionnaire is proficient in English; study materials will only be provided in English.

Participation in the SDQ is not predicated on whether or not the agency conducts image comparison casework. In fact, for the purposes of understanding the state of the field and the current utility of hand image comparison, responses indicating that image comparisons are NOT conducted at an agency are just as valuable as those indicating that they are conducted.

Our goal is to collect questionnaire responses from at least 75 agencies, but we hope to include up to 400 agencies in order to better characterize the current state of the discipline.

Procedures
If your agency expresses interest in participating in the HandIC-SDQ, you will be sent a SurveyMonkey link to participate, through which you will initially be required to review, complete, and e-sign this consent form. As part of the consent process, we will collect your agency name as well as an individual point of contact (for follow-up questions, only if needed); no other personally identifiable information (PII) will be collected, and all questions will pertain only to your agency, not to the individual point of contact.

After consenting, you will be presented with a questionnaire that includes a variety of multiple-choice questions regarding your agency's experience with image comparisons, both in general and with respect to hand detail image comparisons. Questions will collect details regarding your agency's image comparison-related training, practice, utility, policies and procedures, as well as characterize the prevalence of different types of hand detail image comparison casework that your agency encounters. If your agency does not receive or conduct this type of casework, there will be an option to indicate as such.

We anticipate that this questionnaire will take no more than about 10-15 minutes to complete.

Benefits
This study is for research purposes only. There is no direct benefit to your agency for its participation in this study. The results of this study will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. The results of this research will provide the forensic community with information regarding the current state of the discipline of hand detail image comparisons, which are expected to help inform standardization, training, practice, and additional research in this discipline.

Risks and Discomforts
The study team is not aware of any risks, but there may be unknown risks associated with this study.

New Findings
Any new important information that is discovered during the study and that may influence your agency's willingness to continue participation in the study will be provided to you.

Alternatives
This study is for research purposes only. Your agency is free to participate or not participate in this study. If your agency chooses not to participate, there will be no negative consequences.

Costs and Compensation for Participation
No charges will be billed to your agency for this study. Your agency will not be paid or compensated for its participation in this study.

Confidentiality
Results will be confidential. No information about your agency will be released. PII (agency name; point of contact name and email address) will only be used for the purpose of conducting the study and will not be used or released for any other purposes. Your agency's responses will not be linked to its PII. No reference will be made in oral or written reports, publications, or released datasets that could link your agency's name to the study. The research results will be published, and the questionnaire responses will be released as supplemental data, but anonymity of participating agencies (and points of contact) will be strictly maintained.

A blind coding system will ensure anonymity. Each agency will be assigned a random agency ID number (AgencyID); the questionnaire responses will be assigned a random response ID number (ResponseID). The cross-references between the AgencyID and the ResponseID will be closely kept and maintained by study team members that are not involved in analysis of the questionnaire responses, so that the analysis team will not be able to associate questionnaire responses with any information about the participating agencies. Cross-references between the ID numbers will be destroyed prior to publication or public presentation of results. (Please note: these cross-references are only kept during the study period to facilitate the study — allowing us to reach out for clarification of responses (only if necessary) and allowing participants to withdrawal responses, if desired.) Therefore, the identities of participating agencies (and their points of contact) will not be associated with the results at any point during analysis or reporting, and such association will not be possible subsequently.

The researchers will not disclose which agencies did or did not take part in the study. In reporting results, results will be aggregated across multiple agencies, taking care so that the results are not aggregated in a way that compromises anonymity.

Study-level information will be archived at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD); deidentified study data (i.e., SDQ responses) will be archived on the Open Science Framework (OSF) and will be made publicly available after the completion of the study.

Refusal or Withdrawal of Participation
Participation in this study is voluntary. Participation in this research study is not mandatory; your agency may withdraw from this study for any reason without penalty. If your agency withdraws from the study before data collection is completed, you may notify the principal investigators if you wish for your agency's data to be destroyed. After the end of the data collection period, data will be anonymized and pooled, so withdrawal of your agency's data will not be possible. Your agency's decision whether or not to participate in the study will not affect your current or future relations with the investigators. The investigators or the sponsor can stop your agency's participation at any time without your consent.

Whom to Contact
An institutional review board (IRB) is an independent committee established to help protect the rights of research participants. If you have any questions regarding your rights as a research participant, and/or concerns or complaints regarding this research study, contact Pearl IRB:

Pearl IRB
Monday through Friday 9-5 EST/EDT
support@pearlirb.com
317-899-9341 (main)
https://www.pearlirb.com/