Forensic Cross-Check (FCC)

The Forensic Cross-Check (FCC) is a server-computed evidentiary inference mechanism introduced in EVIDE v2.0. It is the ninth dimension of the EVIDE evidentiary profile.

FCC evaluates the structural coherence of a closure surface by cross-checking two independently declared intake dimensions against each other: the classification of the decision being stabilized, and the runtime_visibility of the conditions under which it was made.

The result is a four-state inference - stable, degraded, unknown, broken - that becomes part of the evidentiary record at the moment of stabilization. It cannot be submitted, overridden, or modified by the intake system.

FCC is derived from a cross-dimensional matrix. The two input dimensions are:

• classification - the declared risk or consequence classification of the decision being stabilized (e.g. stable, provisional, contested)
• runtime_visibility - the declared observational quality of the conditions present at decision time (e.g. confirmed, partial, unverifiable)

The cross-check detects structural incoherence: a decision classified as stable under conditions declared as unverifiable produces a different FCC output than the same classification under confirmed conditions. The asymmetry between what is claimed and what is observable is exactly what FCC is designed to surface.

FCC contains an embedded detection mechanism referred to as the Anti-Synthetic-Coherence (ASC) sensor. This mechanism addresses a specific and structurally dangerous failure mode in AI-assisted governance systems.

The failure mode is this: an AI system can produce outputs that are internally coherent - well-formed, logically consistent, formally complete - while the conditions that would make those outputs observationally grounded no longer exist. The system appears to be functioning correctly. The evidentiary conditions for its outputs have silently degraded.

The ASC sensor cross-checks declared runtime visibility against the classification being claimed. When a system produces high-confidence classifications under conditions it declared as unverifiable, the structural incoherence is forensically significant - not because the outputs are necessarily wrong, but because they cannot be independently reconstructed from the observational conditions present at the time they were produced.

This is the epistemic distinction at the core of FCC: the evidentiary value of a closure depends not just on what was decided, but on whether the conditions surrounding the decision were sufficiently observable to support independent reconstruction.

FCC is Dimension 9 of the EVIDE evidentiary profile. The profile is structured as a set of independently computed dimensions, each contributing a specific evidentiary layer to the closure record.

Dimension 9 (continuity) is one of the server-inferred dimensions in the current stable profile. All other dimensions in the profile are declared by the intake system. FCC is computed by EVIDE from the cross-check of intake-declared fields - which means it cannot be fabricated, overridden, or adjusted by the submitting system.

The evidentiary profile evolves independently from the EVIDE schema version. profile_version tracks the profile structure; evide_schema tracks the intake schema. A schema update does not necessarily change the profile structure, and a profile extension does not require a schema increment.

FCC and Decision Wave Compression (DWC) are orthogonal dimensions of evidentiary governance observation. FCC is structural and synchronic - it evaluates the quality of a single closure surface at a point in time. DWC is dynamic and diachronic - it evaluates the temporal pressure context surrounding a series of closures over time.

A system can exhibit any combination of FCC and DWC states. The intersection defines the governance condition:

Full documentation of the DWC/FAC framework: Decision Wave Compression - Technical Note v0.1

FCC is an evidentiary inference mechanism. Its scope is precisely bounded:

• FCC does not determine whether a decision was correct, safe, or compliant
• FCC does not determine legal liability or regulatory violation
• FCC does not certify the quality of the AI system that produced the decision
• FCC does not validate the authority conditions declared by the submitting system - it observes their structural coherence
• FCC does not operate as a post-stabilization interpretation layer - once the closure record is stabilized, FCC is fixed
• FCC does not reconstruct closure state after the fact - the state is inferred at the moment of crossing, not recovered from downstream artifacts

FCC is declared as a vendor framework construct in the EVIDE GLM manifest under the vendor_framework_constructs field, introduced in EVIDE manifest version 2.0.

The canonical URI for FCC is this page. Any GLM-aware system that fetches the EVIDE manifest and follows the canonical_uri for EVIDE:FCC will arrive here for the authoritative definition of the construct.

EVIDE Framework: certifywebcontent.com - Evidentiary Deposit

EVIDE JSON Schema v2.0: app.certifywebcontent.com/json

EVIDE API Documentation v2.0: EVIDE Intake Schema Documentation

DWC/FAC Technical Note: Decision Wave Compression and Formal Accountability Collapse

EVIDE v2.x Roadmap: Architectural Backlog and Experimental Constructs

GLM Manifest (EVIDE): governance-layer-manifest.json

GLM Standard Specification: Governance Layer Manifest - Open Standard Proposal