Introduction to Social Psychology Law-Lecture Notes-Psychology, Study notes of Social Psychology

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Study Conclusions:

• Miscarriages of justice can and do occur.
• Eyewitnesses can be wrong.

Media Conclusions:

• “Eyewitness testimony is the worst evidence you could possibly have, but at trial it’s the strongest evidence you could possibly present.” -ABC News

NIJ DNA Conclusions

Eyewitnesses Evidence

(Loftus, 1983)

Type of Evidence % guilty votes

• Eyewitness testimony 78
• Fingerprints 70
• Polygraph 53
• Handwriting 34

Common Errors

• Overestimate their ID accuracy
• Cross race ID’s poor
• Unconsciously transfer
• Susceptible to false memory formation

Memory

• Memory as a structure
• Memory as a process
  • Context Effects
  • Mood
  • Interference

Context and Memory

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0.

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Sober Intoxicated Study Environment

Sober Test Intoxicated Test

Mean Errors on Test

More Factors Affecting

Eyewitness Accuracy

• Admonishment
• Selection of lineup fillers should be fair
• Investigator conducting lineup must not know who culprit is
• Lineups should be sequentially administered
• Mugshot books should not be viewed before lineup is conducted

• Out of 321major violator cases, 18 were found in

which the defendant claimed mistaken

identification at trial.

• Features of these mistaken ID trial cases were

compared to 3 other types of cases ( N = 234) that

also involved eyewitness ID’s:

• Trial cases in which defendant admitted the act ( n = 30)
• Plea bargained cases ( n = 138)
• Rejected cases ( n = 30)

Some Data From SD

SD Data

• Mistaken ID trial cases most often (89%) involved physical evidence implicating the suspect.
• Plea bargained cases generally involved better witnesses and less physical evidence than trial cases. But, suspects were usually arrested immediately on scene or within hours.
• DA generally screened out cases with little physical evidence, even those that had good witnesses.

Generalizability Issues

MedianRange^0 0.5^1 2 3…^0 40 80 120 160 200 240 280 320 360 400 440 480 520 Crime Report 1st Description 1st ID Arrest Preliminary Hearing Trial Sentencing

1st Description^0 0.5^1 2 3…^0 40 80 120 160 200 240 280 320 360 400 440 480 520 Identification

Criminal Archives

Hours after crime^ Laboratory Studies Days following crime

Hours after crime Days following crime

Date Rape Research

Victimization is not a random experience. Rather, the odds that you will be victimized depend on many factors.

• Victimization Survey Findings
  • NCVS, UCR and Koss (1987)
• Rape Characteristics:
  • Acquaintances.
  • Drugs and alcohol likely to be involved. •Victim doesn’t report.
  • Physical evidence supporting acquaintance rape often lacking.

Rape in San Diego

• On average, about 2 rapes are reported every day in San Diego.
• Most rapes take place between midnight and 5 a.m.
• The victim knows the attacker in 80% of the assaults.
• Women are most at risk in their own homes, and near and around a vehicle.
• Most happen in neighborhoods near commercial zones (downtown Gaslamp, stretches of University Ave and El Cajon Blvd, and Palm and Plaza Blvds in National City)