Does recognition imply guilt? An overview over the factors that influence eyewitness identification performance

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleProfessional

Abstract

Eyewitness identification stands as one of the core aspects of the judicial system. However, when it comes to identifying faces, people often make mistakes. Thus, it should not come as a surprise that eyewitness identification has been shown to be the number one factor of wrongful convictions (www.innoccenceproject.org). Therefore it is importantto understand the reasons that make eyewitnesses so error prone and investigate how we could enhance their performance. In the present article we examine the factors that have an impact on eyewitnessidentification performance. More specifically, we will refer to those variables over which the research community has reached consensus. These include estimator and system variables as well as postdictors,which are variables capable to diagnose the identification accuracy once it has taken place. In doing so we aim to reveal those parameters that are based on a sturdy research base, but have notwithstanding beenneglected by the Greek judicial system. We suggest a number of alterations and improvements, based on this research basis that can improve identification performance.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)63-79
Number of pages17
JournalPsuhologia
Volume19
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2012

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