Eyewitness accounts: false facts, false memories, and false identification

Abstract

With an experimental design, we assess the reliability of eyewitness identification. After viewing a staged nonviolent crime, subjects heard a confederate provide an inaccurate description of the criminal. Subjects were then randomly placed in one of several experimental conditions, and their ability to identify the criminal was assessed. While subjects were highly confident in their ability to accurately identify the perpetrator, their ability to provide accurate information about the perpetrator was relatively low. All of the following were shown to significantly impact the probability that our eyewitnesses could provide accurate eyewitness information: length of time between the subject witnessing the crime and being asked to identify the perpetrator; the subjects' physical distance from the witnessed crime; the content of the photo lineup (whether or not the criminal was included); and prelineup instructions provided to the eyewitness. Similar to prior research, our results highlight the dangerous fallibility of eyewitness identification, particularly for co-witness contamination.

Keywords:

• eyewitness identification
• postevent contamination
• prelineup instructions

Notes

^1. Email: [email protected].

^2. The only copy of the Kohnken (1985) article that could be located was written in German. Therefore, information contained in Kohnken and Maass (1988) was used to discuss Kohnken (1985) article.

^3. One subject did not identify their sex or race.

^4. During all of the experiments, no well-meaning students ever gave chase.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chris Rose

Dr Victoria Simpson Beck is a Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati. Her research has appeared in a variety of academic journals and has focused on issues related to laws and sexual victimization, eyewitness identification, and education.

Victoria Beck

Dr Chris Rose is an Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He received his Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He teaches courses in Criminological Theory, Statistics, and Major Issues in Criminal Justice. His research has appeared in a variety of academic journals including the Journal of Crime and Justice, the Journal of Correctional Education, the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, and a variety of academic books including Understanding Correctional Violence, the State of Corrections, and Transnational Criminology Manual.