NCJ Number
85643
Journal
Canadian Police College Journal Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: (1982) Pages: 113-124
Date Published
1982
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This investigation explores police awareness of the influence of stress, cross-racial differences, subjective certainty, time perception, and age on eyewitness accuracy, as well as elderly persons' knowledge of the impact of these factors.
Abstract
The attitudes of police officers and elderly citizens were compared to those held by judges and criminal lawyers, students, and psychologists defined as 'experts' in the field of eyewitness testimony. Most judges, lawyers, officers, and others differed with the experts in holding the erroneous belief that details of violent crimes could be more easily recalled than those of nonviolent crimes. Few elderly persons realized the difficulties in facial memory when a weapon is involved, and some officers and elderly persons thought witnesses could easily identify persons of another race. Most groups, except for the experts, thought that people underestimate time perception as often as they overestimate and many considered eyewitness testimony to be reliable if witnesses are very certain of their evidence. The groups were also asked about the credibility of elderly, children, and police eyewitnesses, resulting in many wrong answers. Police officers should be more aware of psychological factors influencing eyewitness accuracy. Data tables and 22 references are supplied.