NCJ Number
74745
Journal
Journal of Applied Psychology Volume: 64 Issue: 2 Dated: (1979) Pages: 232-237
Date Published
1979
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This study examines the hypothesis that a witness' memory of a suspect is impaired by the use of mugshot file searches.
Abstract
Four groups of 15 subjects, who were between the ages of 20 and 65, observed a videotape of 3 men whom they were later asked to identify in a recognition test. One group of subjects who searched through a sequence of 100 mugshots to identify the targets were less accurate on the subsequent test than a control group who spent an equivalent amount of time listening to a comedy tape. A third group of subjects who were exposed to the same sequence of mugshots but rated them for attractiveness, not for identity of targets, showed test performance equivalent to that of the control group. The paper suggests that study findings are more consistent with the view that interpolated mugshots influence a witness' internal criterion rather than memory. Some support for this criterion interpretation was provided by the performance of the fourth group who searched the mugshots for identification of suspects, but were subsequently told that the test alone included the target faces. The overall 34-percent identification rate recorded in this study is likely to be a more accurate estimate of performance by police witnesses that the 80 to 90 percent sometimes reported for subjects observing slides of faces under laboratory conditions. One table, 3 reference notes, and 14 references are included. (Author abstract modified)