Suggest ways in which eyewitness testimony could be improved?

monty mike

Anyone have any info on this?

Thanks.

Reply 1

CrazyBeautiful

What do you mean exactly?

Reply 2

layla_1234

what text book are you using... i did this quesion 6 years ago.

Reply 3

CrazyBeautiful

Perhaps the need to improve eyewitness testimony persists :p:

What is this for anyway- AQA?

Reply 4

monty mike

It's for A2 Edexcel.

CrazyBeautiful

What do you mean exactly?

For example, within eyewitness testimony there have been problems in some of the following areas:

Leading questions
Hypnosis
Attribution bias

What I need to know is how these problems have been dealt with or addressed. Any solutions psychologists have put forward to make EWT more reliable.

Maybe I will have to look through my my textbook some more. :smile:

layla_1234

what text book are you using... i did this quesion 6 years ago.

Angles on Applied Psychology.

Reply 5

Hannah_Jeffries

Use forensic hypnosis

Dont know if this worksheet would be of any help but ??

Improving Eye – Witness Testimony

Obviously if we recognise that there are issues effecting eye witness testimony then a key priority is improving its accuracy.

Hogg & Vaughan (1996) offer the following factors for improving the accuracy of eye-witness testimony:
o The witness goes back over the scene or the crime to reinstate additional cues.

POLICE RECONSTRUCTIONS and line ups

a) To obtain eyewitnesses who have not come forward yet.

b) To jog the memory of eyewitnesses who have come forward.
They attend the reconstruction and there is the hope that they will remember further details about the crime. This works on the principle of CUE DEPENDANT memory. This is working a t a context basis and so can provide some very good clues.

HOWEVER. There is a problem. As we have already seen there can be problems with recall and thus a reconstruction, which does not mirror exactly could trigger further inaccuracies or even CONFABULATION.

A) IDENTIKITS--- Mr Potato head. We judge by complete picture no individual features. Use of E FIT..better quality images but original still feature by feature. Face Processing Research group-include cartoon outline and other features. Multiple witnesses.

B) IDENTITY PARADES.-Probs. People more likely to select on basis of clothes rather than facial features/criminals change their features before parade/people assume suspect is there- how might this alter the outcome? Suggestions-should be told suspect not necessary there, not put under pressure/should be dressed similar but not the same as-second test. Cutler & Penrod (1988) suggest-SEQUENTIAL LINE UP.

C) Use of CCTV footage

Use of Video I’d parades?
What would be the benefits of this?

D) the witness was exposed to the person’s face for a long time
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

o the witness gave testimony a very short time after the crime
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
. The person’s face was not altered by disguise
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Cognitive Interviewing

Cognitive interviewing is a technique that is now used by police to help eyewitnesses recall events accurately. It has four basic principles.

(1) It aims to reinstate the environmental and personal context of the crime. This includes sights, smells, feelings and emotions.
(2) It asks witnesses to report every detail, even if they think it is trivial.
(3) It asks witnesses to recount the event in different orders.
(4) It asks witnesses to report the incident from a range of perspectives, including these of other bystanders, or even the criminals themselves.

A standard police interview would only ask witnesses to recall the event and then answer detailed questions about an aspect that was seen as important.

Lab experiment – Participants watched a short film of a violent crime. Two days later, they were divided into three groups and interviewed by a police officer.

STANDARD INTERVIEW – average of 29.4 correct statements

HYPNOSIS - average of 38. Correct statements

COGNITIVE INTERVIEW 41.1 correct statements

It was also found that cognitive interviewing reduced the power of leading questions.

ENHANCED COGNITIVE INTERVIEWING

This is a form that encourages OPEN ENDED questions (e.g. what did the suspect do next?). This encourages longer answers. Also the interviewer is encouraged to follow the witnesses train of thought so if a detail is out of place this does not matter.

The enhanced COGNITIVE INTERVIEW was tested in a lab experiment. The enhanced interview showed 45% more details than the standard cognitive interview. BUT there was an increase of 28% in inaccuracies.

Activities

1. How could programs like Crimewatch help in solving crimes?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. Why is cognitive interviewing much more effective than standard interviewing?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

3. What possible problems can you see with putting these factors into place?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….