Predictors of eyewitness identification decisions from video lineups in England: A field study

Eyewitness identification decisions from 1,039 real lineups in England were analysed. Identification procedures have undergone dramatic change in the United Kingdom over recent years. Video lineups are now standard procedure, in which each lineup member is seen sequentially. The whole lineup is seen twice before the witness can make a decision, and the witness can request additional viewings of the lineup. A key aim of this paper was to investigate the association between repeated viewing and eyewitness decisions. Repeated viewing was strongly associated with increased filler identification rates, suggesting that witnesses who requested additional viewings were more willing to guess. In addition, several other factors were associated with lineup outcomes, including the age difference between the suspect and the witness, the type of crime committed, and delay. Overall, the suspect identification rate was 39%, the filler identification rate was 26% and the lineup rejection rate was 35%. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

The effects of judicial admonitions on hearsay evidence

Using a simulated civil case, this experiment investigated whether mock jurors: (a) are able to disregard hearsay evidence when admonished to do so, (b) experience psychological reactance and "backfire effects" in proportion to the strength of judicial admonition instructing them to disregard hearsay evidence, and (c) are able to recognize and disregard hearsay evidence without judicial instructions. Results indicate that jurors were unable to disregard inadmissible hearsay testimony in some legal decisions regardless of whether there were judicial instructions to do so. Jurors exhibited backfire effects paying more attention to inadmissible hearsay evidence when they were strongly instructed to disregard it. More specifically, juror backfire effects were evident in both their confidence in their liability verdicts and in their punitive damage awards. The legal and policy implications of these findings are discussed.     

Scent identification evidence in jurisdiction (drawing on the example of judicial practice in Poland)

One of the most significant challenges for contemporary forensic science seems to be research of new sources of physical evidence. Particularly after successful implementation of revolutionary DNA identification law enforcement agencies look for other new and perhaps more efficient techniques.     

民事诉讼证据中有关鉴定的诠释与规则适用探讨

新《民事证据规定》涉及鉴定条款占所有条款数量的四分之一,其中,新增条款又约占整个鉴定条款的60％.这种大幅度对鉴定问题的修订,彰显出鉴定在民事证据中的重要地位与实践中的突出作用.这些有关鉴定条款的修改、新增和删除,除理顺民事证据规定与民事诉讼法及其相关解释的关系和回应民众对鉴定的需求外,侧重于人民法院对鉴定委托的管...     

The effect of line‐up administrator blindness on the recording of eyewitness identification decisions

Purpose. Line‐up administrators’ expectations have been shown to influence eyewitnesses’ identification decisions. Expectations may also influence administrators’ willingness to record witnesses’ decisions as positive identifications. Methods. Single‐ and double‐blind participant administrators presented a line‐up to a confederate witness, who identified either the suspect or a filler. Results. A hierarchical log‐linear analysis revealed an interaction effect of blindness and witness choice on participants’ recording of the identification: Single‐blind administrators were more likely to record the confederate's choice as a positive identification when the witness chose the suspect (vs. a filler), whereas double‐blind administrators’ records were not influenced by the witness's choice. An interaction between blindness and witness choice also emerged for participant administrators’ witness evaluations. Single‐blind administrators rated confederates who chose a filler as significantly less credible than those who chose a suspect; double‐blind administrators’ ratings were consistent across photo selection. Conclusions. Blindness influenced line‐up administrators’ record of line‐up outcomes. These results add to the growing body of research supporting the use of double‐blind line‐up administration.     

The effects of impeachment evidence and limiting instructions on individual and group decision making

Two studies were conducted to investigate the effects of impeachment evidence in civil cases. According to the Federal Rules of Evidence, impeachment evidence can be used to judge defendant credibility, but not to infer bad character or harmful propensity. Jury-eligible subjects watched a realistic videotaped trial in which prior convictions for perjury and character evidence of honesty or dishonesty were manipulated. In Study 1, subjects provided individual judgments, and in Study 2, subjects engaged in group deliberations. Impeachment evidence did not strongly affect verdicts, and character evidence of honesty decreased liability only when limiting instructions were given. In both studies, however, the evidence produced legally permissible and impermissible inferences. Prior convictions reduced perceived credibility and increased inferences of negligent propensity. Evidence of dishonesty produced lower credibility ratings and negative character impressions. Credibility, character, and propensity assessments were all important in the verdict-reaching process, suggesting that juror's decisions do not conform to the requirements of the Rules of Evidence.This research was supported by National Science Foundation under grant no. SES-8411599 awarded to the first author. We would like to thank Richard Lempert for his helpful comments on an earlier draft, and Jerry Busmeyer, Maureen Crowley, Myrna Gaidos, David Hullinger, Randy Larsen, Bill Little, Charles Nelson, Richard Schweickert, Harold Seymour, and Al Solomon for serving as witnesses in the trial videotapes.     

英国法中司法认定作为证据的可采性分析-兼与美国证据法作比较

司法认定所依据的事实在随后发生的诉讼中有时会成为案件的争点问题,而将司法认定作为证据来证明争议的事实是否具有可采性是一个复杂的问题：要对这一问题作出规定,不仅需要考虑不同类型诉讼的审判方式、证明标准,还要考虑公正、程序滥用等公共政策。英国普通法实践最先通过Hollington案在这一问题上表明了立场,然而随着质疑的产生以及英国法对公正性日益重视,法律改革委员会和刑事法律修订委员会渐渐抛弃了普通法所确立的Hollington规则,对包括先前定罪在内的司法认定作为证明其所依据的事实之证据是否可采作出了具体细致的规定。在同为英美法系的美国,因普通法实践及政策考量等方面的差异,在这一问题上,《美国联邦证据规则》的规定与英国证据法有所不同。     

拉曼光谱技术在物证鉴定中的应用

拉曼光谱技术具有不接触样品、不破坏样品、无需样品制备等优点,适用于法庭科学领域不同种类物证的分析.本文综述了拉曼光谱技术在物证鉴定中的应用,并对该技术的发展趋势进行了展望.     

Influence of confidence inflation and explanations for changes in confidence on evaluations of eyewitness identification accuracy

Guidelines for conducting police line‐ups typically recommend immediate assessment of eyewitness confidence following identification. This confidence level can presumably be used to estimate accuracy even in the presence of subsequently inflated confidence. In this experiment, we examined students' perceptions of immediate and inflated confidence and whether their reliance on confidence varies as a function of the explanations given by the eyewitness for her inflated confidence. Each of 126 university students viewed one of five versions of a videotaped officer–eyewitness interaction depicting an eyewitness identification and follow‐up interview in which the eyewitness gave a (1) high or (2) moderate level of confidence or inflated her confidence and gave a (3) confidence epiphany, (4) memory contamination, or (5) no explanation for the inflation. The memory contamination and confidence epiphany explanations led to lower ratings of identification accuracy as compared to the high‐confidence control condition, supporting the immediate confidence recommendation but in some ways contradicting previous research on this issue. The results suggest the need for further research to understand the conditions under which confidence inflation influences juror evaluations of eyewitness identification.     

Forensic identification science evidence since Daubert: Part II--judicial reasoning in decisions to exclude forensic identification evidence on grounds of reliability

Many studies regarding the legal status of forensic science have relied on the U.S. Supreme Court's mandate in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., and its progeny in order to make subsequent recommendations or rebuttals. This paper focuses on a more pragmatic approach to analyzing forensic science's immediate deficiencies by considering a qualitative analysis of actual judicial reasoning where forensic identification evidence has been excluded on reliability grounds since the Daubert precedent. Reliance on general acceptance is becoming insufficient as proof of the admissibility of forensic evidence. The citation of unfounded statistics, error rates and certainties, a failure to document the analytical process or follow standardized procedures, and the existence of observe bias represent some of the concerns that have lead to the exclusion or limitation of forensic identification evidence. Analysis of these reasons may serve to refocus forensic practitioners' testimony, resources, and research toward rectifying shortfalls in these areas.     

Value of skull identification as evidence using a superimposed video image technic with reference to individual craniometric differences in the human skull

The possibility of using the video superimposition technique for the identification of a skull by comparing it with photographs of missing persons is based on the fact that the human skull, unlike any other part of the human skeleton, shows unmistakable individual characteristics. In order to obtain a quantification, the individuality of human skulls is defined in terms of craniometric data and their probability distribution. First calculations based on the coordinates of some important encephalometric points of 52 European skulls suggest that there are individual aspects comparable to those of fingerprints. Under certain conditions, the video superimposition technique can establish very strong evidence for the identity of an unknown skull, provided that it is applied correctly and carefully.     

串联质谱技术在物证鉴定中的应用

串联质谱是近年来发展迅速且能提供丰富信息的质谱新技术。本文综述了串联质谱的基本原理、操作模式、仪器类型以及该技术在物证鉴定中的应用。     

司法鉴定行政与司法视角的边界——民诉证据司法解释鉴定内容的思考

2019年12月26日,最高人民法院发布了《关于修改〈关于民事诉讼证据的若干规定〉的决定》,备受司法界关注。其中,涉及司法鉴定的条款达24条之多,笔者结合《司法鉴定程序通则》,对相关内容予以了梳理与比较,揭示了民事证据规定给司法鉴定带来的变化与问题。民事证据规定重点规制了司法鉴定启动、受理、鉴定人出庭接受质询、鉴定人诚信承诺、鉴定人权利保障,鉴定人的出庭义务、遵守鉴定时限的义务,以及围绕鉴定资料的真实性、合法性方面的规定,以期保障鉴定质量。与此同时,民事证据规定也带来了管理上的边界之争的问题,包括司法鉴定行政管理部门与法院之间、法院与司法鉴定机构之间,以及法官与鉴定人之间权利义务的边界之争与之推,司法鉴定呈现多头管理已见端倪。本研究直面司法鉴定发展中的问题,建议尽早启动司法鉴定立法工作,强化鉴定意见的法庭质证,明确虚假鉴定的认定标准,梳理鉴定多头管理乱象等等,希望可以对司法鉴定制度的改革有所裨益。     

The effect of repeated questioning on children's accuracy and consistency in eyewitness testimony

Purpose. In police interviews children may be asked the same question many times. We investigated how the number of repetitions and the interval between those repetitions affected the accuracy and consistency of children's responses. Methods. 156 children aged 4–9 years watched a staged event and were interviewed individually 1 week later. Children were asked eight open‐ended questions, which were each repeated a further four times (making a total of forty questions). Half these open‐ended questions could be answered from information in the event, and half were unanswerable (so children should have said ‘don't know’ in response to these questions). The questions were repeated in gist form. The interval between an initial question and its repetitions was varied by use of other questions and twenty non‐repeated filler questions. The intervals between repetitions were immediate repetition, repetition after a delay of three intervening questions, after a delay of six intervening questions, and after ten or more intervening questions. Results. Over a quarter of children's responses to repeated questions changed, usually resulting in a decline in accuracy, particularly after the first repetition. Subsequently, the number of repetitions and delay interval had little effect on responses to answerable questions although accuracy to unanswerable questions continued to decline. Conclusions. Question repetition had a negative affect on children's consistency and accuracy. For unanswerable questions in particular, the more often a question was repeated the more likely children were to invent a response.     

Decision making in joined criminal trials: The influence of charge similarity,evidence similarity,and limiting instructions

The present research investigated decision-making processes in joined trials of multiple offenses. Subjects judged videotaped trials of three joined charges in a factorial design that varied charge similarity, evidence similarity, and judges' instructions designed to reduce judgement biases; or judged one of several charges presented individually. The results indicated that subjects were more likely to convict a defendant in a joined trial than on the same charge tried by itself, particularly when the charge was presented in the third position. Convictions were more frequent when joined charges were similar, and judges' instructions significantly reduced conviction rates. Subjects judging joined trials confused evidence among charges, rated the prosecution's evidence as stronger, and rated the defendent less favorably than subjects judging single trials. The findings were compared statistically to the results of previous research, and it was concluded that increased convictions in joined trials are robust effects.This research is based on part of a doctoral dissertation by S. Tanford at the University of Wisconsin. The research was supported by National Institute of Justice Grant No. 81-LJ-CX-0048 to S. Penrod.