Field Studies of Eyewitness Memory of Actual Crimes (From Psychological Methods in Criminal Investigation and Evidence, P 97-124, 1989, David C. Raskin, ed. -- See NCJ-120545)

• NCJ Number: 120548
• Author(s): J Cutshall; J C Yuille
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 28 pages
• Sale Source: Springer Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Efforts at determining the nature and functions of memory in the past 100 years have been disappointing.

Abstract

One major failure is researchers' inability to produce knowledge that can be applied to real-life situations. The ecological validity of much of laboratory based research also is questioned. A Canadian study of 13 eyewitness' recall of an actual crime showed that their accuracy remained about the same from a police interview to a research interview four to five months later. Eighty-two percent of the witnesses reported the action accurately in both interviews. Additionally, 60 percent more information was given at the research interview at 81 percent accuracy. The article elaborates on results from studies of two other crimes plus a study of serial bank robbery. These findings suggest that, contrary to traditional laboratory findings, witnesses can provide detailed, accurate, and consistent information about certain aspects of striking events; but they also support laboratory findings of witness difficulty in identifying and describing perpetrators. 4 tables, 43 references.