seminar 6: psychology and crime investigation cj233: introduction to forensic psychology

Seminar 6:Psychology and Crime Investigation

CJ233: Introduction to Forensic Psychology

Confidential & Proprietary • Internal Kaplan Use Only.

*REMINDER*

•Just a reminder, you have a Unit 7 Assignment. This is a two to three page paper on the topic of insanity and the civil commitment of mentally ill individuals and mentally ill offenders. The Assignment is due at the end of Unit 7 (Tuesday evening). Any questions on the Assignment?

SEMINAR 6

•Are there any questions regarding current Unit (6) or this weeks required reading (Chapters 5 and 6)?

CURRENT EVENTS

Did anything happen this week that relates to the topics that have been discussed?

SEMINAR 6

•What do I have to do to complete this unit?•Read Chapters 5 and 6 in Wrightsman’s Psychology and the Legal System: Psychology of Crime

•Attend weekly Seminar or complete alternate assignment

•Make postings to both Discussion Board questions•Review the Unit Summary

•Eyewitness Identification • It has been showed through research that there are many wrongful convictions per year due to mistaken eyewitness identification.

•This seminar will discuss: - some of the reasons that mistaken eyewitness identification can occur

- some safeguards against mistaken identification

Unit 6 Seminar Topic:Eyewitness Identification

What is eyewitness testimony?

What is eyewitness testimony?-This is testimony in a courtroom or deposition that is part of the court record by an individual who witnessed the event in question in some capacity. It is to provide information to assist the trier of fact in making a determination of the court questions at hand, usually guilt or responsibility.

EYE WITNESS TESTIMONY

Have you been a witness to a crime?

Is so what did the police ask?

HOW RELIABLE IS EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY

How reliable is eyewitness testimony?

EYE WITNESSES

According to the Innocents Project 75% of the first 218 cases of exonerated individuals were due to mistaken identity

We are most certain about the things we see more than any other sense.-If you smell something we can hypothesize what it could be

-If you feel something we can hypothesize what it is

-If you hear something we can hypothesis what we hear

-If you taste something we can hypothesis what we are tasting

We are most certain about the things we see more than any other sense.-However, if we see something we are certain about what we see!!!!

-Unfortunately this is not the case……..

• How many wrongful convictions are estimated each year due to mistaken eyewitness identification?

- It has been estimated that there may be as many

as 5,000 wrongful convictions per year due to mistaken eyewitness identification.

WOW!!!

• Numerous analyses over several decades have consistently shown that mistaken eyewitness identification is the single largest source of wrongful convictions

• Rattner's (1988) review of 205 cases of proven wrongful conviction, estimated 52% were associated with mistaken eyewitness identification.

EYE WITNESSES

What factors can affect what a person sees during a crime?

• In a study conducted by Richard Wise and Martin Safer (2003) they found the following:

-The presence of a weapon impairs an eyewitnesses ability to accurately identify the perpetrators face

-An eyewitness can be influenced by post-event experiences that are unrelated to the identification accuracy

-If a law enforcement officer knows which member of the lineup is the suspect, this can bias a witnesses’ selection

-Even simple disguises can reduce identification accuracy

-Memory for minor or peripheral details is inversely related to eyewitness accuracy because the eyewitness then has fewer resources available to process the perpetrators face

-Jurors rely heavily on eyewitness confidence in evaluating identification accuracy.

-Witnesses who view a mug shot of a suspect are more likely to choose that person from a lineup in comparison to a witness who did not see a mug shot

-Traditional simultaneous lineup encourages witnesses to make relative judgments about which lineup up “most closely resembles” the perpetrator of the crime.

-There is a relatively rapid loss of memory for the details of an even which takes place shortly after the event occurs.

• Why do we make mistakes when it comes to eye-

witnessing a crime?

witnessing a crime?-There are three parts to being able to testify to what we saw.

-First………seeing the event and processing it-Second…..encoding the event into our memory-Third………recalling the events as they were initially observed

-As you can see there are many areas of this process which can be contaminated either intentionally or unintentionally prior to having to testify.

witnessing a crime?-Schacter has seven (7) sins of memory…..They are:

-Transience

-Transience-Absent Mindedness

-Transience-Absent Mindedness-Blocking

-Transience-Absent Mindedness-Blocking-Misattribution

-Transience-Absent Mindedness-Blocking-Misattribution-Suggestibility

-Transience-Absent Mindedness-Blocking-Misattribution-Suggestibility-Bias

-Transience-Absent Mindedness-Blocking-Misattribution-Suggestibility-Bias-Persistence

witnessing a crime?• Confirmation Bias

- People tend to look for information that supports their beliefs, while ignoring or downplaying whatever contradicts it.

- EX: People notice when they get a phone call from a person they were just thinking about but don’t remember how often they didn’t get such a call when thinking about a person.

- Confirmation bias tends to work closely with other biases and prejudices — the more emotionally involved we are with a belief the more likely it is that we will manage to ignore whatever facts or arguments might tend to undermine it.

- Crime victims are very emotionally involved with their belief. They ‘convince’ themselves they are RIGHT in their identification.

- People don’t like to be wrong and anything which shows them to be wrong will be harder to accept.

witnessing a crime?-Mistakes can occur the moment the crime is committed.

-Too dark-Events may happen too quickly-Encounter may be too brief for the victim to perceive the incident accurately.

• When questioned by police, victims are forced to rely on their impressions about the criminal:

- height, hair color, voice, and other identifying features.

witnessing a crime?- Police may coax reactions from eyewitnesses.

- Eyewitnesses may feel implicit pressure to identify someone, even if the police do not explicitly encourage them to do so.

- Eyewitnesses must remember experiences that are typically brief, complicated, and sometimes very frightening, they are especially prone to error.

POLICE INVESTIGATIONS

What types of eyewitness identification can take place during an investigation?

POLICE INVESTIGATIONS

Show up

Photo line-up

Police line-up

Police sketch

HOW DO WE PROCESS INFORMATION

Perception

we will over- estimate height and duration but underestimate the duration of a long event.

Is there a different in what we see?

People with military experience, what will they notice?

EYE WITNESSES

Women will give a better description of clothing and notice colors and styles.

Men will notice cars better

If there is a weapon presented the focus will be on the gun.

MEMORY

Critical events only parts will be remembered.

Military POW study

Moderate stress( no threat of physical harm) produced 76% recognition of interrogators

High stress ( threat of physical harm) 34% recognition

MEMORY

Storage-

The length of time from the event will affect the amount of detail we can recall.

Police officer exams

Post event information can alter how they remember the event

Separation of witnesses during interviews.

Are we better at identifying people from our own race?

Eyewitnesses are usually better at recognizing and identifying members of their own race or ethic group than members of another race or ethic group.

77% of exonerated cases showed mistaken identification with white victims or witnesses who misidentified Black suspects.

Physiognomic variability.

Whites are better at recognizing skin tone on an African American and an African American will identify hair color on a white person. We concentrate on

categorization rather at the attention to detail of facial features that makes the person different

REFORMS IN POLICE INVESTIGATIONS

As an eyewitness would be it better to be asked specific questions or asked general questions?

COGNITIVE INTERVIEW

Type of interview protocol – open ended questions and allowing the witness to convey a narrative account of the incident.

Evidence suggests 34% more detail with a cognitive interview

PHOTO LINE-UPS

By making the statement “the suspect may or may not be present” reduces the chances of mistaken identity by”

PHOTO LINE-UPS

Sequential Line-up vs. Simultaneous line-ups Mistaken identity occurs:

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

•Here is a link to a website from Frontline dealing with Elizabeth Loftus and eyewitness testimony.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/interviews/loftus.html

SEMINAR 6

•Are there any final questions regarding current Unit (6) or any of the information presented in Chapters 5 or 6?

seminar 6: psychology and crime investigation cj233: introduction to forensic psychology

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