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ERIC Number: EJ1261999
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0888-4080
EISSN: N/A
Non-Blind Lineup Administration Biases Administrators' Interpretations of Ambiguous Witness Statements and Their Perceptions of the Witness
Charman, Steve D.; Matuku, Kureva; Mook, Alexis
Applied Cognitive Psychology, v33 n6 p1260-1270 Nov-Dec 2019
Administering lineups "blind"--whereby the administrator does not know the identity of the suspect--is considered part of best practices for lineups. The current study tests whether non-blind lineup administrators would evaluate ambiguous eyewitness statements, and the witness himself or herself, in a manner consistent with their beliefs. College students (n = 219) were told the identity of the suspect or not before administering a lineup to a confederate-witness who made an ambiguous response (e.g., "it could be #3 but I'm not sure"). When ambiguous witness statements matched administrators' beliefs regarding the suspect (compared with when they mismatched administrators' beliefs, or administrators had no belief), administrators (a) were significantly more likely to record the statement as an identification (as opposed to a "not sure" response); (b) were significantly less likely to make statements that might lead the witness away from the suspect; and (c) evaluated the witness's viewing conditions significantly more positively.
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A