Version	1.1	/	Date	of	Issue:	2.09.16 /	Issuing	Authority:	Forensic	Science	Standards	Board	(FSSB)

OSAC	RESEARCH	NEEDS	ASSESSMENT	FORM

Title	of	research	need: Population	Frequency	of	Class	Characteristics:	Footwear	in	the	United	States

Keyword(s): Footwear,	Class,	Population,	Frequency,	Density,	Wear,	Size,	Pattern

Submitting	subcommittee(s): Footwear	&	Tire Date	Approved: 07-Mar-2016

(If	SAC	review	identifies	additional	subcommittees,	add	them	to	the	box	above.)

Background	Information:

1. Description	of	research	need:

Determine	the	frequency	of	occurrence	of	footwear	class	characteristics in	specific	and	well-defined	

populations	in	the	United	States.		Any	population	of	interest	must	be	defined	spatially,	temporally,	

demographically,	logistically,	etc.		Class	characteristics	include	brand,	make,	model,	size,	wear,	pattern,	etc.

2. Key	bibliographic	references	relating	to	this	research	need:

Petraco,	N.	et	al.	(2010).	Statistical	Discrimination	of	Footwear:	A	Method	for	the	Comparison	of	Accidentals	

on	Shoe	Outsoles	Inspired	by	Facial	Recognition	Techniques.	Journal	of	Forensic	Sciences,	55(1),	pp.	34-41.

Stone,	R.	(2006).		Footwear	Examinations:	Mathematical	Probabilities	of	Theoretical	Individual	

Characteristics.	Journal	of	Forensic	Identification.	56(4),	pp.	577-599.

Hilderbrand,	D.	(1999).	Four	Basic	Components	of	a	Successful	Footwear	Examination.	Journal	of	Forensic	

Identification.	49(1),	pp.	37-59.

Wilson,	H.	(2012).	Comparison	of	the	Individual	Characteristics	in	the	Outsoles	of	Thirty-Nine	Pairs	of	Adidas	

Supernova	Classic	Shoes.	Journal	of	Forensic	Identification.		62(3),	pp.		194-203.

Parent,	S.	(2010).	The	Significance	of	Class	Associations	in	Footwear	Comparisons.	Poster.	NIJ	Impression	

Evidence	Symposium.	

Hamburg,	C.	(2010).	Evaluation	of	the	Random	Nature	of	Acquired	Marks	on	Footwear	Outsoles.	

Presentation.	NIJ	Impression	Evidence	Symposium.	

Bodziak,	W.	(2000).	Footwear	Impression	Evidence:	Detection,	Recovery	and	Examination,	2nd	Edition.	CRC	

Press.
Version	1.1	/	Date	of	Issue:	2.09.16 /	Issuing	Authority:	Forensic	Science	Standards	Board	(FSSB)

3a. In	what	ways	would	the	research	results	improve	current	laboratory	capabilities?

The	information	gained	from	this research	would	build	upon	frequency	studies	relating	to	randomly	

acquired	characteristics.	The	ability	to	cite	the	frequency	of	certain	class	characteristics	in	defined	

populations	will	assist	in	reinforcing	the	strength	of	the	examiner’s	conclusions.

3b. In	what	ways	would	the	research	results	improve	understanding	of	the	scientific	basis	for	the	

subcommittee(s)?

The	results	of	this	research	would	support	the	basis	of	footwear	and/or	tire	examiner’s	opinions	when	

dealing	with	class	characteristics,	such	as	design,	size,	and	wear.	Providing	the	frequencies	of	certain	class	

characteristics	within	known	populations	would	give	an	objective	and	quantitative	basis	to	the	qualitative	

model	that	current	rarity	estimates	are	based	upon. The	results	of	this	research	would	support	footwear	

and/or	tire	examiner’s	opinions	that	are	presented	in	court.	This	would	be	beneficial	to	the	jury	in	giving	

weight	to	expert	testimony,	and	could	potentially	be	used	as	a	statistical	basis	for	opinions.

3c.		In	what	ways	would the	research	results	improve	services	to	the	criminal	justice	system?

The	results	of	this	research	would	support	footwear	and/or	tire	examiner’s	opinions	that	are	presented	in	

court.	This	would	be	beneficial	to	the	jury	in	giving	weight	to	expert	testimony,	and	could	potentially	be	

used	as	a	statistical	basis	for	opinions.

4.		Status	assessment	(I,	II,	III,	or	IV): I Major gap	in	

current	

knowledge

Minor	gap	in	

current	

knowledge

No	or	limited

current	research	

is	being	conducted

I III

Existing current	

research	is	being	

conducted

II IV

This	research	need	has	been	identified	by	one	or	more	subcommittees	of	OSAC	and	is	being	provided	as	an	

informational	resource	to	the	community.
Version	1.1	/	Date	of	Issue:	2.09.16 /	Issuing	Authority:	Forensic	Science	Standards	Board	(FSSB)

Approvals:

Subcommittee Approval	date: 07-Mar-2016

(Approval	is	by	majority	vote	of	subcommittee.	Once	approved,	forward	to	SAC.)

SAC

1.		Does	the	SAC	agree	with	the	research	need? Yes x No

2.		Does	the	SAC	agree	with	the	status	assessment? Yes x No

If	no,	what	is	the	status	assessment	of	the	SAC:

Approval	date: 17-Mar-2016

(Approval	is	by	majority	vote	of	SAC.		Once	approved,	forward	to	NIST	for	posting.)