Using procedural rationality as the theoretical framework, this study systematically deconstructs the reform mechanism of the French forensic appraisal system and its implications for China’s judicial reform. Through the dual filtering mechanism of the roster system, the three-tier procedural supervision system, and the remedy mechanism based on collective rationality, France has established a collaborative governance framework integrating technical rationality and judicial authority, and has realized the judicial transformation of scientific judgments. However, the system still faces inherent tensions, including the paradox of cognitive dependence, the potential danger of power concentration, and the challenge of algorithmic black boxes, driving France to achieve dynamic adjustments through reforms such as strengthening judges’ obligation of technical review, introducing checks and balances in roster selection, and codifying algorithmic transparency into law. The French experience reveals the core logic that procedure takes precedence over technology. First, China should abandon the inertia of administrative management, promote the transformation of legislation from management-oriented law to procedure-oriented law, and incorporate review rules for technical disputes by amending the three major procedural laws. Second, China should build a two-track roster system (technical access review by the Ministry of Justice and ethical review by the Supreme People’s Court), and transform the principle of fault-based liability in the French Civil Code into a lifelong accountability system for forensic appraisers. Third, through the establishment of a technical judge system and the enhancement of the cross-examination rights of expert assistants, China should realize the coordination between professional autonomy and public participation under judicial guidance, thereby bridging the gap between technical rationality and judicial justice. Ultimately, procedural rationality becomes the embodied carrier of justice. Its value lies not in eliminating scientific uncertainty, but in transforming technical disputes into a productive force for judicial consensus through an institutionalized dialogue mechanism.

With the continuous emergence of new technologies such as the Internet of Things, blockchain, big data,and artificial intelligence, crimes committed by means of new technologies have also arisen. The governance of new types of crimes is inseparable from reliance on technical experts. As individuals with specialized knowledge,technical experts mainly undertake work such as inquests and examinations, forensic appraisal, and technical consultations and investigations in assisting criminal investigations. The qualifications, responsibilities, and appointment of technical experts, together with the procedures for their assistance in investigations, directly affect the legal effect of expert-assisted investigations. Although China has established relatively mature legal systems in areas such as inquests and examinations assisted by individuals with specialized knowledge and auxiliary forensic 
appraisal, the increasingly prominent digital and intelligent characteristics of new types of crimes have brought new challenges to the work of technical experts in assisting inquests, examinations, and forensic appraisal. There is an urgent need to respond by improving the existing systems and strengthening legislation in this field. Foreign countries have valuable experience in aspects including expert qualifications, responsibilities, appointment, procedures for assisting investigations, and the legal effect of such assistance. Therefore, examining the expert-assisted investigation systems of foreign countries is of important reference value for improving China’s legislation in this field and regulating expert-assisted investigation practices.

The validity of evidence value assessment directly affects judicial fairness. The traditional assessment model that relies on expert experience suffers from problems such as subjective bias. The likelihood ratio (LR) based on the Bayesian framework provides an objective measurement of probative force by calculating the probability ratio of evidence under the prosecution and defense hypotheses, and has become a key tool for connecting the technical and legal dimensions. This paper systematically reviews the research status of the LR method in the three major fields: physical evidence, forensic medical examination, and audio-visual material identification. From a technical perspective, the LR method covers feature-based and score-based feature acquisition methods, as well as model construction techniques using classical statistics and artificial intelligence. System performance calibration and evaluation techniques continue to improve, providing dual guarantees for the reliability and accuracy of LR results. Current research shows new trends from experience-driven to data-driven, from single-modal to multi-modal fusion, and from laboratory analysis to real-time intelligent on-site detection. The LR method not only promotes technological updates but also facilitates the transformation of judicial proof concepts to an “experience-data” hybrid model. However, China still faces challenges in database construction, standardized validation, interdisciplinary talent cultivation, and judicial acceptance. This paper aims to provide a theoretical reference for building an interpretable, verifiable, and scalable evidence assessment framework, and to assist in the standardization of forensic science evidence assessment and the practice of judicial fairness in China.

In the field of forensic appraisal, traditional document examination techniques have been questioned for their excessive reliance on personal experience and subjective judgment. With the increasingly stringent standards for evidence, there is an urgent need for more scientific and objective methods for document examination to meet the requirements of the times. Quantitative analysis technology has brought a new perspective to forensic document examination. It integrates theories and methods from statistics, mathematics, computer science, and other disciplines, and adopts probabilistic and data-driven expressions, thus providing a referable paradigm for document examination. Based on clarifying the common logic of quantitative analysis methods used in various document examination techniques, this article combed through the cutting-edge progress and development of six specific fields, including handwriting identification, linguistic recognition, printed document examination and so on. Existing limitations in each field were analyzed and development suggestions were put forward. Moreover, this article discussed the status and prospects of applying artificial intelligence in document examination. The purpose of this article is to provide theoretical support and practical reference for promoting the scientific and intelligent development of document examination.

 Objective Due to the development of inkjet printing technology, in most cases, discernible traces are hardly found on printed documents nowadays. To solve this problem from the perspective of forensic document examination, this study used two-dimensional fast Fourier transform (2D FFT) to convert the ink dot images of inkjet-printed documents into spectral diagrams, and then to analyze the halftone ink dot spectral characteristics of these images as a basis for identifying the types of inkjet printed documents. Methods Through analysis of the patterns of change in halftone ink dot spectral characteristics of documents printed from the same color inkjet printer under continuous printing and various influencing conditions, this study evaluated the stability of spectral characteristics, identified influencing factors, and demonstrated their forensic value. Results The halftone ink dot spectral characteristics from one same color inkjet printer exhibit relative stability across different printing times. Changing the image resolution, ink cartridges, the method of opening word processing software, PDF conversion modes, as well as the brand, material, and weight of printing paper did not significantly affect the halftone ink dot spectral characteristics. However, the halftone ink dot spectral characteristics of different printed contents showed significant differences. Therefore, halftone ink dot spectral characteristics possess high practical value in the examination of inkjet printed documents. Conclusion The application of halftone ink dot spectral characteristics in the examination of inkjet printed documents is feasible and provides a new approach to feature-based examination for the authentication of color inkjet printed documents to a certain extent.

Objective To investigate the feasibility of classical computer vision models in recognizing stamp impression types with small sample quantity, as well as the impact of different stamping conditions. Methods Three network models, VGG16, ResNet50, and visual Transformer, were utilized to identify the kinds of stamp impressions imprinted by six common types of stamps, including photosensitive stamp, laser-engraved penetration stamp, self-inking stamp, copper stamp, wooden stamp, and rubber stamp. Results In the experiment, the three network models performed well in recognizing all six types of stamp impressions. The recognition accuracy for photosensitive stamp, self-inking stamp, wooden stamp and rubber stamp all basically reached 100%, while only a slight decrease was observed in the recognition accuracy for laser-engraved penetration stamp and copper stamp. In the following blind test, the recognition accuracy of the three models for the six types of stamp impressions generally dropped by 3 to 35 percentage points, confirming the limitations of the network models in real complex scenarios. Conclusion Classical models in the field of computer vision can assist in recognizing the types of stamp impressions, but their recognition accuracy needs to be improved.

The judicial appraisal admission system in China has gone through a change from dispersal management to consolidated management. However, it has the following shortcomings,such as vague and ambiguous approval conditions, low standards for admission, and overly flexible reviews that lack comprehensive verification of professional knowledge and practical skills, leading to a “lifetime” qualification of appraisals. Additionally, the selection and appointment system operates under a dual model with unclear application and lax enforcement. Assessment and continuing education are superficial, lacking mandatory measures and evaluation mechanism, which fail to create effective constraints. While the administrative-led management system ensures efficient organization and unified standards, it may compromise the independence and neutrality of appraisers. Based on international experiences, the judicial appraisal admission system in China can follow the following paths: (1) unifying the qualification review and selection procedures for appraisers with strict, detailed, and reasonable standards; (2) establishing a comprehensive and scientific qualification assessment system and integrating technical standards into the education system to elevate the professional level of appraisers from the outset; (3) accelerating the establishment of a national forensic appraisal association to leverage its role in qualification review, quality assessment, and industry self-regulation; (4) clarifying the scope of practice and practice standards for appraisers to prevent non-standard behavior; and (5) expediting the legislative process for forensic appraisal to improve relevant laws and regulations, thereby building a systematic and complete access system that promotes the professionalization, standardization, and legalization of the forensic appraisal industry in China.

In the context of advancing the modernization of national governance and the construction of a rule-of-law China, the development of public legal service systems and reforms in forensic appraisal face the requirements of high-quality development. The value goal of “universal and equal” public legal services and the technical rationality of “scientific and fair” forensic appraisal together form the dual pillars of social justice. From a legal philosophy perspective, Rawls’ theory of procedural justice requires that the allocation of judicial resources must ensure the maximum benefit for the least advantaged, while Habermas’ theory of communicative action emphasizes the need for rational communication among institutional systems to achieve synergy. Currently, with the implementation of the Legal Aid Law and the advancement of the Ministry of Justice’s Three-Year Action Plan for Improving Public Legal Service Standards (2025-2027), the integration of these two aspects has become essential to meet the people’s expectations for substantive justice. However, practical challenges such as institutional barriers, fragmented technical standards, and imbalanced resource distribution remain, necessitating systematic solutions from the perspectives of legal philosophy and interdisciplinary integration.

This paper undertakes a systematic retrospective review of China’s forensic appraisal accreditation system, assessing its current practical status and delineating prospective avenues for reform. Since the implementation of the Decision on the Administration of Judicial Authentication adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in 2005, China has made remarkable progress in the standardization and legalization of forensic appraisal, providing strong support for safeguarding judicial impartiality and social fairness and justice. This paper meticulously delineates the three principal phases of the development of the forensic appraisal accreditation system: the foundational establishment phase (2005-2008), the phase of detailed refinement (2009-2015), and the phase of enhanced regulatory oversight (from 2016 to the present). It offers a profound dissection of the defining traits and the efficacy of execution in each phase. In addition, this paper addresses the challenges confronting the extant system in terms of legislative evolution, technological integration, resource alignment, and sector self-regulation, and posits tailored reformative measures: legislative foresight and innovation, the implementation of technological standardization and practical deployment, the strategic optimization of resource distribution to satisfy judicial demands, and the reinforcement of sector self-governance alongside the accreditation and recognition framework.

Technological innovation is the core driving force of new quality productive forces. Forensic appraisal itself possesses the dual attributes of law and science. New quality productive forces and forensic appraisal are integrated and mutually reinforcing. New quality productive forces empower the development and reform of forensic appraisal, while the reform and development of forensic appraisal promote the progress of new quality productive forces. The promulgation of the Decision on the Administration of Judicial Authentication has initiated the reform of China’s forensic appraisal industry, achieving impressive results. However, the reform in the field of forensic appraisal in China is not yet complete, and there are still many practical dilemmas. There is a lack of legislation for empowering the development and reform of forensic appraisal through new quality productive forces. The management system and the scientific and technological innovation system that are compatible with new quality productive forces remain underdeveloped. The construction of new quality talent teams in forensic appraisal does not match the actual demand. The positioning of forensic appraisal in modern public legal services is unclear. Therefore, it is imperative to promote the unified legislation of forensic appraisal, focus on building a management system and scientific and technological innovation system compatible with new quality productive forces, improve the development layout, promote the construction of new quality talent teams in forensic appraisal, strengthen the public welfare attribute, and serve the national strategy with new quality forensic appraisal capabilities.

The 2025 Symposium on Forensic Theory and Practice was successfully held in Shanghai from November 26 to 28, 2025. As a sub-venue of the symposium, the special session on Reform and Development of Forensic Appraisal in the New Era invited experts and scholars from judicial administrative agencies, industry associations, forensic appraisal institutions, and universities. In-depth discussions were conducted focusing on the reform of the forensic appraisal management system, disciplinary construction, industry governance, and the improvement of the service system. By summarizing the practical achievements, common problems, and optimization paths of the reform and development of the forensic appraisal industry, this paper systematically sorts out the consensus and different suggestions put forward by the participating experts, so as to provide solid theoretical and practical references for the high-quality development of the forensic appraisal industry in the new era.