reliability of eyewitness testimony

weapons focus - unreliable

• considered unreliable due to weapons focus theory

• eyewitness will notice and remember details about the crime if a weapon is present

weapons focus - unreliable: loftus et al

• lab exp to test impact of WF on accuracy of recall

• p’s into 2 conditions watching people move through queue at taco restaurant

• one group saw customer hand cashier bill, other saw customer pull a gun

• monitoring eye movements p’s in gun condition spent longer fixated on gun

• therefore, weapons focus can easily distort any accounts

weapons focus: strength evaluation

• p’s watched videos

• no experienced actual armed robbery

• avoiding reliving trauma or causing distress

weapons focus - reliable

• eyewitness accounts have been shown to remain accurate despite a weapon being present

weapons focus - reliable: yuille and cutshall

• case study on eyewitness memory of a crime

• canada, man attempted to rob a gunshop - shot 6 times and killed by owner

• police investigated witnesses

• 4 months after first interview, interviewed 13 witnesses

• witnesses recalled incidence in great detail and accounts did not alter after 2 misleading questions

• therefore, presence of weapon, ewt can still be reliable and remain consistent over time

weapons focus - reliable: case study evaluation

• in depth investigation into a unique person or group

• presence of weapon may not always effect the ewt

• this case study may have been a coincidence

post event information - unreliable

can easily be manipulated and contaminated by external factors

post event information - unreliable: gabbert et al

• 60 students from uni of aberdeen, 60 adults from local community watch video of girl stealing from wallet

• either tested individually or in pairs

• p’s in cowitness group were told watched same video but had seen diff perspectives of the same crime and only one person saw girl stealing

• cowitness group discussed crime, all p’s completed questionaire

• 71% of cowitness group recalled info they hadn’t seen

• 60% said the girl was guilty, though no crime was observed

• therefore, not reliable as memoru can be contaminated to influence accuracy of event

post event information - unreliable: ethical implications

• ewt declared unreliable, devalues witness’ experience

• decrease in people contributing court case evidence

• could make difference between wrongful conviction and criminal being charged

post event information - reliable

memories can be resistant to false information

post event information - reliable: loftus

post event information - reliable: social implications

• if ewt reliable, fairer sentencing

• good welath of evidence to use in court cases

• ewt used alongside CCTW, dna and physical evidence

• more evidence → increase likelihood of case being solved fairly

emotions - unreliable

an influx of strong emotions can contaminate the accuracy of memories

emotions - unreliable: peters

• used p’s who were visiting a health centre for routine injections

• researcher took details and recruited, got injection from a nurse then went home

• 1 week later, asked to see nurse and researcher from set of photos

• more likely to identify researcher

• meeting researcher → low anxiety, injection → high anxiety - results predicted using inverted u theory

• therefore, crimes are often high stress, if ewt too stressed, recall of info will be poor

emotions - unreliable: inverted u theory

• low levels of anxiety → memory accuracy is low but as anxiety increases so does cognitive performance until it reaches an optimal level

• after any increase in anxiety causes memory accuracy to drop significantly

emotions - reliable

in high stress situations, witnesses can still recall information accurately

emotions - reliable: christianson and hubinette

• 110 witnesses of 22 bank robberies interviewed sometime after

• victims recall of robber's clothing and behaviour accurate, and accuracy evident 15 months later

• oppposing to results that weapons focus and inverted u theory would predict

• flashbulb memories

• therefore, even in high stress situations, accurate retain of key details over an extended period, likely due to flashbulb memories

emotions - reliable: flashbulb memories

• vivid memory associated with an emotional event including details such as where they were and what they were doing

• may play a role in enhancing reliability of eye witness testimony

emotions - reliable: mundane realism

• interview and time left between crime and interview are representative of an EWT

• information recalled will have higher level of validity

reliability of eyewitness testimony conclusion

• unclear whether ewt is effective or not - evidence to support both sides

• yes: memory difficult to manipulate, accounts more valid

• no: weapons focus, witness unreliable

• therefore, ewt should still be used but not independently

• used with cctv and dna which are objective, unable to manipulate