“He Couldn't Have Done It, He Was With Me!”: The Impact of Alibi Witness Age and Relationship

Abstract

Undergraduate participants who conducted a simulated police investigation were presented with either a child (6 years old) or adult (25 years old) alibi witness, who was either the son or neighbor of the participant's suspect. Replicating previous research, participants were more likely to believe the adult neighbor alibi witness than the adult son. In fact, an alibi provided by the adult son actually proved detrimental to that suspect, as participants thought the suspect was more likely to be guilty after viewing an alibi provided by the adult son. However, child-provided alibis reduced perceptions of suspect guilt, regardless of that child's relationship to the suspect. The child alibi witnesses were also viewed by the participants as more credible than the adult witnesses.

Altruistic Lying in an Alibi Corroboration Context: The Effects of Liking, Compliance, and Relationship between Suspects and Witnesses

“…Similarly, Olson and Wells () found that, when no physical evidence was available to corroborate an alibi, mock investigators gave higher believability ratings when an alibi witness was a stranger than when either there were no alibi witnesses or the alibi was corroborated by what they termed a “motivated” other (someone who would be motivated to lie for a defendant, such as a friend or family member). Similar findings have also been found by several other researchers (e.g., Dahl & Price, ; Lindsay, Lim, Marando, & Cully, ). Thus, law enforcement officials and potential jurors seem to hold the belief that the relationship between an alibi witness and a suspect is important when determining the reliability of an alibi.…”

Investigator Sensitivity to Alibi Witness Inconsistency after a Long Delay

“…Indeed, in Study 2, when the comparison was between children of different ages, there were no differences in witness honesty (or accuracy) ratings. Prior research has found child alibi witnesses to be more credible than adult alibi witnesses when there is a close personal relationship between the suspect and the alibi witness (such as the suspect's son in the present research; Dahl & Price, ). It appears that this implied honesty is distributed across children of all ages presented in the current work.…”

“…This perception appears to be driven by the inherent belief that children have more difficulty telling convincing lies and may also be less motivated to lie for a suspect than adults (Ross et al ., ). However, in the work of Dahl and Price (), honesty was highlighted as a salient issue, the alibi witnesses only stated the alibi once, and accuracy was not emphasized. Thus, depending on which dimension is more salient to a particular witness's testimony, a child or an adult may be perceived as more credible.…”

“…A further consideration in the “who” of alibi evidence is the relationship between an alibi witness and the suspect. The most replicated finding in the alibi literature is that who provides the alibi evidence can be critical: those with familial relations to the defendant are perceived as less credible alibi witnesses than those unrelated to the defendant (e.g., Culhane & Hosch, ; Dahl & Price, ; Olson & Wells, ). This pattern is hypothesized to be the result of a perception of incentive to lie: someone close to the suspect may have motivation to lie to protect the suspect, whereas someone with little or no relationship to the suspect should be less motivated.…”

“…The honesty dimension has recently been highlighted when comparing alibi witnesses of different ages. Under conditions that prime considerations of honesty, children appear to be particularly believable as alibi witnesses when compared with adults: Dahl and Price () found clear evidence that a child is viewed as a more credible alibi witness than an adult when honesty is a salient issue in the alibi statement. This perception appears to be driven by the inherent belief that children have more difficulty telling convincing lies and may also be less motivated to lie for a suspect than adults (Ross et al ., ).…”