NCJ Number
148244
Date Published
1992
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Laboratory and field experiments were conducted to compare one-person and multiple-person police lineups and to assess the effect of eyewitness observation and photographic presentation on the identification of persons in lineups.
Abstract
In the first experiment, subjects were shown a series of 24 color slides depicting a theft; three slides showed the thief's face. The 96 photographic lineups prepared in the experiment contained one, two, six, or 10 pictures. The second experiment was similar to the first, except that it was based on more realistic conditions. Both experiments demonstrated that one-person lineups increased the likelihood of false identification. There was no strong support, however, for 10-person lineups over six-person lineups. Another experiment investigated whether an eyewitness could actually identify in a lineup a driver sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle after a lapse of 9 months. Only one subject was able to identify the driver; most subjects who also saw photographs of the driver, however, were able to identify him in the lineup. It was determined that the possibility of identification from photographs is considerably greater than identification from real situations. 18 references and 6 tables