Decision Times and Eyewitness Identification Accuracy in Simultaneous and Sequential Lineups (From Adult Eyewitness Testimony: Current Trends and Developments, P 300-327, 1994, David Frank Ross, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-159543)

• NCJ Number: 159557
• Author(s): S L Sporer
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 28 pages
• Sale Source: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Studies of decision times and eyewitness identification accuracy are reported that employ a staged or filmed event paradigm and measure decision time as a correlate of decision accuracy.

Abstract

Study findings show a small but reliable negative relationship between decision time and eyewitness identification accuracy and indicate that this relationship can be boosted in studies employing both target-present and target-absent lineups when choosing is considered as a mediating variable. The relationship among choosers becomes consistently stronger, whereas the correlation for nonchoosers is generally not different from zero or even slightly positive in some cases. A potential exception may be studies in which misleading postevent information has contaminated witness memory. Within a sequential lineup mode, within-witness comparisons of the decision time for a positive choice and average rejection time are particularly revealing. Overall, study findings point to the utility of decision time as an assessment variable in evaluating individual cases of eyewitness identification accuracy. 80 references, 1 table, and 3 figures