Eyewitness Science in the 21st Century

Abstract

This chapter reviews the nature and findings of eyewitness science with the help of expert testimony on eyewitness performance. Eyewitness scientists have investigated a number of factors that render the task of encoding the target's features more difficult, including characteristics of the target or perpetrator, those of the circumstances of their encounter, and those of the witness. Three characteristics of the target have been most commonly investigated. These include the distinctiveness of appearance, the available view of target features, and the similarity of the target to the witness in race, age, and gender. The own‐race bias (ORB) or cross‐race effect (CRE) refers to impairment in identification performance regarding targets of a different race relative to those of one's own race. Important goals have been to influence public policy: to encourage the adoption of police practices that minimize the likelihood of eyewitness errors, and to educate judges and juries about the factors that influence witness accuracy.

Risk-enhancing behaviors associated with human injuries from bison encounters at Yellowstone National Park, 2000–2015

“…In addition, the narrative data are comprised of self-reports from the injured party, witness statements, or on-scene investigation from responding rangers. Memories are subject to a host of cognitive biases, such as recall bias, selective perception, or other memory distortions [ [39] , [40] ]. A standardized approach to recording incidents might help reduce these biases.…”

Validation of the COVID-19 Disbelief Scale: Conditional indirect effects of religiosity and COVID-19 fear on intent to vaccinate

“…Researchers found conservatism linked to lower perceptions of COVID-19 as a threat because of source of misinformation ( Calvillo, Ross, Garcia, Smelter, & Rutchick, 2020 ). Misinformation cannot be easily unseen or removed from someone's cognition ( Davis & Loftus, 2007 ; Mazzoni & Vannucci, 2007 ; Patihis et al, 2013 ). While public health officials tried to correct the spread of misinformation, misunderstanding of COVID-19 as a real threat had permeated society ( Bode & Vraga, 2018 ; Miller, 2020 ).…”

Eyewitness Memory for Person Identification: Predicting Mugbook Recognition Accuracy According to Person Description Abilities and Subjective Confidence of Witnesses

“…Estimator variables on the other hand, can be controlled and manipulated in scientific research, however their effect on eyewitness recognition can only be estimated by police forces in real criminal cases (Wells et al, 2006). Estimator variables usually affect the witness as the crime takes place or at least before the mugbook search is conducted and include the ethnicity of the culprit and witness (e.g., Davis and Loftus, 2018), the focus of attention (Davis and Loftus, 2018), the experience of stress (Deffenbacher et al, 2004), the use of a weapon during the crime (Fawcett et al, 2013), the exposure duration and possible disguises of the culprit (Cutler et al, 1987), and the delay between crime and identification (Shapiro and Penrod, 1986).…”

“…Person descriptors can therefore be divided into permanent and temporary characteristics (Van Koppen and Lochun, 1997), and facial descriptors can be additionally divided into external features (e.g., head shape, hair, ears) or internal features (e.g., eye color, nose, mouth) (Ellis, 1992). While identifications of familiar persons rely more on internal features, external features seem to be more important to recognize a stranger, such as a culprit in a mugbook search (Davis and Loftus, 2018). There are also additional variables that influence the witness' memory for culprits.…”