NCJ Number
164888
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Dated: (August 1996) Pages: 459-477
Date Published
1996
Length
19 pages
Annotation
Two experiments tested the accuracy of eyewitness identifications in showups and lineups.
Abstract
Experiment 1 tested one-person and six-person photographic lineup identifications in field situations either immediately, or 30 minutes, 2 hours, or 24 hours after a 15-second ordinary encounter with a target. Accuracy of performance was superior in six-person lineups compared to showups over time. False identifications of a look-alike innocent suspect were significantly greater in showups than in six-person lineups, especially when the suspect wore the same clothing as the culprit. Experiment 2 followed the same research design as Experiment 1, except that only live showup identifications were tested and, in addition, a physically dissimilar innocent suspect was shown to witnesses. The dissimilar innocent suspect was consistently and correctly rejected in the target-absent showup. Hit rates for live suspects were relatively low over the 24-hour retention interval. Correct rejections significantly exceeded false identifications only on the immediate test. The look-alike innocent suspect was readily rejected when different clothing was worn at the test. No significant differences were found in hit scores or in confidence-accuracy scores between live and photographic targets. Confidence-accuracy correlations were significant but low across experimental conditions. 2 tables and 23 references