Week 2

Question 1

What is the role of a forensic investigator?

Answer 1

Find out who did what to whom

Question 2

What are the two common pieces of evidence that forensic investigators rely on?

Answer 2

1. physical evidence

2. Witness (victim) evidence

Question 3

Is eyewitness reliable?

Answer 3

sometimes.

Question 4

What are some eyewitness identification errors?

Answer 4

1. Incorrect IDs (suspect vs. foils)

2. Misses (no picks)

Question 5

What’s the difference between E/W identification between suspects or foild?

Answer 5

A false identification of suspects are extremely detrimental, a false identification of a foil, not so much. Might just show that the eyewitness testimony isn’t too reliable.

Question 6

What are some problems with “misses” in E/W identification?

Answer 6

-increase the likelihood that the guilty suspect will go out and commit more crime.

Question 7

Which settings do we get E/W error info from?

Answer 7

lab, field, DNA exonerations (most important).

Question 8

Describe the case of Luis Diaz (41 years old)

Answer 8

• convicted: 7 charges of rape
• identified in lineups
• the attacker was described to be super heavy, tall and English speaker
• Lui Diaz was 30cm shorter, spoke no English and skinner
• served 26 years for a crime he did not commit

Question 9

Describe the case of Troy Davis

Answer 9

WATCH VIA THE LINK

Question 10

Even when common sense tells them they shouldn’t, jurors:

Answer 10

Believe eyewitness identification.

Question 11

What is the methodology for eyewitness identification studies?

Answer 11

1. Stimulated live or video crime
2. Event systematically manipulated
3. Lineup presentation (love, photo array, video array)
4. target present vs target absent - as in the real world
5. lineup manipulation
6. Archival studies

Question 12

What are some ways we can manipulate the event in a eyewitness identification study?

Answer 12

exposure time of offender, presence of weapon, race of offender

Question 13

What are some ways we can manipulate a lineup in E/W identification studies?

Answer 13

Number of people, similarity of foils to suspect, etc.

Question 14

What are some issues with lab experiment, methodological studies for E/W identification? (3)

Answer 14

• generalisability of findings (subjects, crime, arousal, consequences of positive ID)
• breadth of sampling (university students)
• statistical power of considerations (no. of Ps needed)

Question 15

What can we use to test generalisability of findings in lab experiment studies of E/W identification?

Answer 15

Field experiments and archival studies.

Question 16

What are 5 other methodological issues with E/W identification studies? (when interactions between variables determine ID performance)

Answer 16

• encoding stimulus and conditions
• test stimuli
• encoding test match
• metacognitive variables (beliefs and expectations about memory, etc)
• social influences