Remember These Words ...

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Remember These Words ...
bed tired snooze blanket night pillow snore she
et dark
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Now, write down all the words From the list that
you can remember.
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1996 NIJ Study

• Convicted by Juries, Exonerated by Science
  (Conners,
• Lundregan, Miller McEwan, 1996)
• Examined 28 defendants exonerated by DNA
  evidence
• 5 cases did not involve eyewitness evidence
• 23 cases involved positive identifications
• 5 cases suspect ID-ed by name
• 3 cases witnesses placed defendant at scene or
  with victim
• 3 cases defendant was framed or victim recanted
• 2 cases involved Fred Zain
• 10 defendants positively ID-ed as culprit by
  witnesses
• Subsequent to the NIJ report, more persons have
  been exonerated based on DNA evidence.

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NIJ DNA Conclusions

• 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 its the
  strongest evidence you could possibly present.
  -ABC News

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Eyewitnesses Evidence (Loftus, 1983)

• Type of Evidence guilty votes
• Eyewitness testimony 78
• Fingerprints 70
• Polygraph 53
• Handwriting 34

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Common Errors

• Overestimate height of criminals
• Overestimate duration of brief events
• Violent encounters lead to poor memory formation
• Pay more attention to the weapon

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Common Errors

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

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Memory

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

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Context and Memory
Mean Words Recalled
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Context and Memory
Mean Errors on Test
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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

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Some Data From SD

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

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Evidence
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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.

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Generalizability Issues
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Rape in San Diego
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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 doesnt report.
• Physical evidence supporting acquaintance rape
  often lacking.

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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)

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Prosecuting Rape Cases

• The 1980s The Rape Research Decade
• Victim characteristics, such as promiscuity,
  marital status, victim dress, alcohol use and
  community reputation found to influence case
  processing.
• Victim advocates argued these factors were
  extralegal.
• As a consequence, every state has revised their
  laws and rules of evidence with respect to rape.
• Controversial change well focus on are rape
  shield laws.

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Does past sexual behavior have probative value?

• Opponents of rape shield laws argue that is has
  probative value if the evidence even slightly
  tends to increase the odds that the woman
  consented.
• Simple instance of past behavior predicting
  similar behavior?
• What legal officials really want to know is,
  Given that a woman has consented, what are the
  odds that she will then report the sexual
  intercourse as rape?

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False Accusations

• Prevalence Rates
• Kanin (1994) 41-50 false
• UCR (1987) 11 unfounded
• Reasons for False Allegations
• Attention, Sympathy, Revenge, Alibi
• Past Sexual Behavior?

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False Accusations

• Women presented with dating encounters in which
  consenting sexual contact was taking place.
• Based on their self-reported sexual histories
  they were categorized into experience groups.
• Motive to report the encounter as rape was
  controlled between subjects.

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Sexual Behavior and Accusations
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Sexual Behavior and Accusations
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Sexual Behavior and Accusations
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Sexual Behavior and Accusations