Aging Eyewitness (From Forensic Psychology: Concepts, Debates and Practice, P 96-112, 2004, Joanna R. Adler, ed. -- See NCJ-205397)

• NCJ Number: 205402
• Author(s): Amina Memon; Lorraine Hope
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 17 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter explores the difficulties encountered by older eyewitnesses and reports on the results of four studies of aging and eyewitness identification.

Abstract

Eyewitness testimony often plays a key role in the administration of justice within an adversarial justice system. The majority of research on eyewitnesses has been conducted with young adults, leaving a gap in understanding eyewitness testimony provided by older adults. This chapter focuses on reviewing studies that lend understanding to how older adults perform as eyewitnesses in court, including an examination of the nature of age-related memory errors. Currently, research on age-related recall for eyewitnesses is sparse, but other types of studies suggest that older eyewitnesses may be more susceptible to misinformation than their younger counterparts. However, firm conclusions cannot be drawn because so much of this research literature contains conflicting results. Eyewitness recognition errors are next considered through an analysis of four studies of aging and eyewitness identification completed in a laboratory setting. Study 1 examined exposure to mug-shots and the accuracy of subsequent identification; study 2 involved the identification abilities of young-old and old-old witnesses; study 3 tested the duration of exposure and eyewitness recognition; and study 4 examined whether context reinstatement can improve identification accuracy. The authors also describe a post-line-up questionnaire developed to examine witnesses’ post-identification cognitions regarding the line-up identification task. Analysis of the questionnaire revealed that all witnesses, regardless of age, approach a line-up with the strong expectation that the offender will be there, contributing to the phenomenon of false identification. The overall assessment of the research results from the four studies and the questionnaire indicated that there is no clear evidence that older eyewitnesses are more vulnerable to misinformation. However, results from study 4 indicated that older witnesses are likely to falsely identify someone from a target absent line-up. Future research should continue to explore age-related differences and explore the generalizability of the findings reported here. References