Repeated Eyewitness Identification Procedures: Memory,Decision Making,and Probative Value

Two experiments examined the effects of multiple identification procedures on identification responses, confidence, and similarity relationships. When the interval between first and second identification procedures was long (Experiment 1), correct and false identifications increased, but the probative value of a suspect identification changed little; consistent witnesses were more confident than inconsistent witnesses; and the similarity relationships between suspect and foils were unchanged. When the interval between first and second identification procedures was short (Experiment 2), suspect identification rates changed little, but foil identifications increased significantly; confidence for all identifications increased; consistent witnesses were more confident than inconsistent witnesses; and similarity relationships changed such that witnesses were less likely to identify the suspect as being the best match to the perpetrator.     

The Target-to-Foils Shift in Simultaneous and Sequential Lineups

A theoretical cornerstone in eyewitness identification research is the proposition that witnesses, in making decisions from standard simultaneous lineups, make relative judgments. The present research considers two sources of support for this proposal. An experiment by G. L. Wells (1993) showed that if the target is removed from a lineup, witnesses shift their responses to pick foils, rather than rejecting the lineups, a result we will term a target-to-foils shift. Additional empirical support is provided by results from sequential lineups which typically show higher accuracy than simultaneous lineups, presumably because of a decrease in the use of relative judgments in making identification decisions. The combination of these two lines of research suggests that the target-to-foils shift should be reduced in sequential lineups relative to simultaneous lineups. Results of two experiments showed an overall advantage for sequential lineups, but also showed a target-to-foils shift equal in size for simultaneous and sequential lineups. Additional analyses indicated that the target-to-foils shift in sequential lineups was moderated in part by an order effect and was produced with (Experiment 2) or without (Experiment 1) a shift in decision criterion. This complex pattern of results suggests that more work is needed to understand the processes which underlie decisions in simultaneous and sequential lineups.     

法庭语音学

本文对法庭语音学进行了研究综述,主要介绍了该学科的核心内容：说话人鉴定。在实际办案中,当未找到嫌疑人,只有犯罪分子的检材语音时,可以使用说话人画像/说话人分类技术。若没有犯罪分子的录音证据时,可以让受害人和证人进行说话人的听觉辨认。具体的辨认形式有两种：对熟人辨认和对陌生人辨认,在对陌生人辨认时可以采用语音辨认的方法进行。当检材语音和样本语音都齐备的时候,法庭语音分析专家就可以对二者进行比对检验了。目前语音比对分析涉及到的问题和领域有：基于贝叶斯方法的法庭推理和似然比计算、共振峰频率的测量应用、非解析感知与样例理论、法庭说话人自动识别以及不同方法的综合应用等。     

Theoretical and legal issues related to choice blindness for voices

Purpose. To examine whether choice blindness occurs for auditory stimuli, namely voices. Methods. One hundred participants listened to three pairs of voices and had to decide each time which one they found more sympathetic or sounded more criminal. After they made a choice, participants were presented with the chosen voice again and had to match it to a face. However, during the second trial, participants were actually presented with the voice they had previously not chosen. Results. Only 19% of the participants detected this change concurrently, an additional 10% detected it retrospectively. This indicates that choice blindness transfers to auditory stimuli. Whether participants had previously evaluated sympathy or criminality of the voices had no effect on choice blindness. Conclusions. The study shows that choice blindness is a robust phenomenon that can also be elicited when auditory stimuli are employed. Implications for earwitness testimony and expert witnesses in the context of forensic speech analysis are discussed.     

Real Personal Uncertainty Induced by Means of Task-Related Feedback: Effects on Reactions to Voice and No-Voice Procedures

Building and extending on research on uncertainty management and voice and no-voice procedures, we examine how real personal uncertainty moderates the way in which people react to getting or being denied an opportunity to voice one??s opinions about decisions to be made. Specifically, results of two experiments show that conditions in which participants receive task-related feedback that induces personal uncertainty (versus conditions that produce more personal certainty) lead to stronger effects of voice and especially no-voice procedures on participants?? procedural fairness judgments (Experiments 1 and 2). Findings also reveal that in these conditions stronger effects of voice and particularly no-voice procedures can be found on participants?? anger about the way they have been treated, especially when participants are predisposed to react in intense terms to affect-related events (Experiment 2). Implications for the literature on uncertainty management and the social psychology of voice and no-voice procedures are discussed.     

Lineup Administrators' Expectations: Their Impact on Eyewitness Confidence

This research focuses on how lineup a administrators influence eyewitnesses' postidentification confidence. What happens to witness confidence when a witness makes an identification that confirms the lineup administrator's expectations; what happens when this expectation is not confirmed? In Experiment 1, participant interviewers (n = 52) administered target-absent photo lineups to participant witnesses (n = 52). The interviewers did not view the simulated crime, but were told the thief's position in the lineup. In every instance this information was false (we used a target-absent lineup). A one-way ANOVA revealed that eyewitness identification confidence was malleable as a function of interviewers' beliefs about the thief's identity. In Experiment 2, participant jurors (n = 80) viewed 40 testimonies of Experiment 1 witnesses (2 participants viewed each testimony). Participant jurors judged all participant witnesses as equally credible despite their varying levels of postidentification confidence.

     

Sequential Lineup Laps and Eyewitness Accuracy

Police practice of double-blind sequential lineups prompts a question about the efficacy of repeated viewings (laps) of the sequential lineup. Two laboratory experiments confirmed the presence of a sequential lap effect: an increase in witness lineup picks from first to second lap, when the culprit was a stranger. The second lap produced more errors than correct identifications. In Experiment 2, lineup diagnosticity was significantly higher for sequential lineup procedures that employed a single versus double laps. Witnesses who elected to view a second lap made significantly more errors than witnesses who chose to stop after one lap or those who were required to view two laps. Witnesses with prior exposure to the culprit did not exhibit a sequential lap effect.     

Co‐witness information influences whether a witness is likely to choose from a lineup

Purpose. Much crime is witnessed by more than one eyewitness, and witnesses may learn information about other witness's decisions throughout the identification and trial process. The objective of this paper was to investigate whether hearing about a co‐witness's type of lineup decision and subsequent confidence level affects another witness's type of lineup choice. Methods. A total of 304 undergraduate students watched a crime video with a confederate co‐witness. After the video, the witnesses completed an identification task. Prior to completing the task, the participant learned that the confederate co‐witness either chose from or rejected the lineup and was subsequently confident or not confident in that decision (or heard no co‐witness information). Participants completed the identification task using either a target present (TP) or target absent (TA) lineup. Results. Overall, those who heard the co‐witness chose from the lineup were more likely to choose from the lineup than those who heard no co‐witness information or who heard the co‐witness rejected the lineup. In addition, witnesses who chose from the lineup and heard the co‐witness chose from or rejected the lineup expressed more confidence in that choice if the co‐witness was more confident versus if the co‐witness was less confident. Conclusions. In cases of multiple witnesses, identification decisions may not be independent pieces of evidence. Therefore, it is important that police separate co‐witnesses throughout the identification process.     

Does Post-identification Feedback Affect Evaluations of Eyewitness Testimony and Identification Procedures?

Two experiments were conducted to test whether post-identification feedback affects evaluations of eyewitnesses. In Experiment 1 (N = 156), evaluators viewed eyewitness testimony. They evaluated witnesses who received confirming post-identification feedback as more accurate and more confident, among other judgments, compared with witnesses who received disconfirming post-identification feedback or no feedback. This pattern persisted regardless of whether the witness’s confidence statement was included in the testimony. In Experiment 2 (N = 161), witness evaluators viewed the actual identification procedure in which feedback was delivered. Instructions to disregard the feedback were manipulated. Again, witnesses who received confirming feedback were assessed more positively. This pattern occurred even when witness evaluators received instructions to disregard the feedback. These experiments are the first to confirm researchers’ assumptions that feedback effects on witnesses translate to changes in judgments of those witnesses.     

Is Age Irrelevant? Perceptions of Young and Old Adult Eyewitnesses

In Experiment 1, we videotaped elderly and younger adults (n = 69) reporting their memories for a crime video. The seniors were significantly less accurate than the younger adults. In Experiment 2, participants viewed the testimony videotapes and rated the elderly as less credible than the younger adults. In Experiment 3, participant-jurors (n = 302) evaluated transcribed testimonies provided by Experiment 1 participants. The ostensible age of the witnesses was manipulated. Thus, some participants read a senior's testimony believing it was provided by a younger adult and vice versa. Participants were apparently not biased by negative stereotypes of seniors' eyewitness capabilities.     

概括故意研究

概括故意是指行为人对于认识的具体内容并不明确，但明知自己的行为会发生危害社会的结果，而希望或者放任结果发生的心理态度。根据行为人认识的具体内容的不同，概括故意可以分为对行为认识不明确的概括故意、对行为对象认识不明确的概括故意以及对危害结果认识不明确的概括故意三种。对于概括故意的犯罪，应该考察行为人的客观行为及其结果，在概括故意的范围内按照主客观统一的原则予以认定。     

基于语言学音系例字的口音自动识别探究

目的 以方言语音学为视角,通过计算机分析和选择模型训练数据,探究提高口音自动识别准确率及优化模型训练数据的方法.方法 采用音系分析、语音信号处理、数学模型实验和统计的方法,对包含约81400段电子语音的37个方言点(每个方言点约2200段),逐一进行音系提炼、挑选音系例字、电子语音预处理和提取梅尔倒谱系数(MFCC),...     

Criteria for homicide and suicide on victims of extended suicide due to sharp force injury

This report is about the findings in association with the extended suicides of nine victims killed by sharp force. All victims were killed by sharp force. The perpetrators were predominantly the parents, the victims their children. Regarding the criteria for differentiating self-inflicted injuries from injuries inflicted by another person, the victims' injuries presented patterns usually found solely in suicides. Thus eight of nine cases presented tentative and hesitation injuries, in three of five cases areas of injury covered by clothing had been exposed beforehand. Despite extremely narrow intercostal spaces in children, injuries to the bones in thoracic stabbing were avoided more often than not (four of seven cases). Only the criterion "defence injury" occurred nearly as often as in homicide victims (three of nine cases). The psychopathology of extended suicide can explain this pattern. The perpetrator's motive is characterised by his pseudoaltruistic belief to save the loved ones from a world that is in his opinion unacceptable. A fusion or integration of the victim into the perpetrator's own self is based on an identity problem. Physical interrelation of forces between perpetrator and victim restricts the victim in his defence and presents an important prerequisite for acquiring the patterns of described injuries.