NCJ Number
221985
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2008 Pages: 123-135
Date Published
February 2008
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study examined two issues previously unexplored with sequential line-ups for eyewitness identifications, i.e., the validity of the 10-12 seconds rule for distinguishing accurate from inaccurate identifications and the reliability of eyewitness identifications made with high confidence.
Abstract
The study found no evidence that a shorter time for making a positive identification in a sequential line-up (viewing one person at a time rather than all persons together) was related to greater identification accuracy. On the other hand, the study found that relatively high confidence expressed in identifications from sequential line-ups was related to identification accuracy, at least when measured immediately after the decision. The study involved 381 participants (157 men and 224 women), who were recruited from first-year undergraduate psychology students (16-64 years old). Participants were tested on two different sequential line-ups, one for each of two characters (a thief and a waiter) seen in a video of a simulated crime. All participants were first presented with the thief line-up first. On the first (thief) line-up, participants were randomly assigned to a target-present or target-absent condition. The second (waiter) line-up reversed the target-presence status of the first line-up in order to ensure that each participant contributed both a target-present and target-absent data point. Events were presented and responses recorded through a computer-assisted system. 3 tables, 2 figures, and 29 references