AbstractsLaw & Legal Studies

Showup identifications: the effects of presence of stolen property and suspect???s denial on identification performance

by Andrew Smith




Institution: UOIT
Department: Criminology
Degree: MA
Year: 2011
Keywords: Showups; Eyewitness identification; System variables; Context effect; Verbal behaviour
Record ID: 1913184
Full text PDF: http://hdl.handle.net/10155/145


Abstract

A showup identification is the presentation of a single suspect to an eyewitness. I used a simulated theft paradigm and subsequent showup identification to examine the effects of stolen property, suspects??? verbal behaviour, and target-presence on eyewitness identification performance. I used a 2 (suspect: innocent, guilty) X 2 (stolen property: present, hidden) X 3 (verbal behaviour: denial with explanation, denial, silence) between-subjects factorial design. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that both the target and stolen property, independently, and significantly predicted the accuracy of identification decisions. Surprisingly, the presence of stolen property facilitated more accurate identification decisions from eyewitnesses.