NCJ Number
95070
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1984) Pages: 310-314
Date Published
1984
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Police lineups used to identify suspects may be biased, because an eyewitness remembers only a limited number of identifying characteristics, which poses a danger to innocent suspects who resemble the offender.
Abstract
In a 1983 robbery trial in Louisville, Ky., the defense counsel believed that the lineup viewed by the bank tellers was biased. To test this belief, the author asked 65 subjects to view and make a selection of a suspect from two photographs of the lineup. The subjects previously read an initial description of the suspect. The subjects included police officers, college students, university professors, liquor store employees, bank employees, and criminal justice personnel. In 47 cases (72 percent), the subjects identified the defendant as the suspect. The three main possible results of suggestive identification procedures such as those used in the actual lineup and in the study are that an innocent person may be misidentified, that subsequent views of lineups may be tainted, and that effects on the jury will be uncertain. The degree of fairness within lineups is largely determined by ideological responses learned in association with key images and identities of suspects. These ideologies must be identified and changed to reduce bias in lineup identification. Twenty-three references are listed.