Influencing Cross-Race Eyewitness Identification Accuracy Using Photographic Lineup Procedures

86 Pages·2017·0.77 MB·English

by  Lisa Pascal

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Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers
2013
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Lisa Pascal
University of Windsor
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Influencing Cross-Race Eyewitness Identification Accuracy
Using Photographic Lineup Procedures
By
Lisa Pascal B.Sc. Hons

A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
through the Department of Psychology
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree of Master of Arts at the
University of Windsor

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

© 2013 Lisa Pascal
Influencing Cross-Race Eyewitness Identification Accuracy Using Photographic Lineup
Procedures

By

Lisa Pascal

APPROVED BY:

_______________________________________________
J. Drakich
Department of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminology

_______________________________________________
C. Kwantes
Department of Psychology

_______________________________________________
A. Scoboria, Advisor
Department of Psychology

_______________________________________________
S. Towson, Chair of Defense
Department of Psychology

September 6, 2013
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY
I hereby certify that I am the sole author of this thesis and that no part of this
thesis has been published or submitted for publication.
I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon
anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques,
quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis,
published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard
referencing practices. Furthermore, to the extent that I have included copyrighted
material that surpasses the bounds of fair dealing within the meaning of the Canada
Copyright Act, I certify that I have obtained a written permission from the copyright
owner(s) to include such material(s) in my thesis and have included copies of such
copyright clearances to my appendix.
I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, including any final revisions, as
approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies office, and that this thesis has
not been submitted for a higher degree to any other university or institution.

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ABSTRACT
The elimination lineup was created to improve children’s eyewitness identification
accuracy, but recent research suggests that it may be suitable for use with adults.
However, there is a lack of research on its robustness, particularly for cross-race
identifications which are known to result in poor accuracy. There is also limited research
investigating how lineup procedures affect cross-race identifications. The current study
sought to explore how lineup procedures affect same- and other-race identifications, and
investigate whether lineup procedures can moderate the cross-race effect. White
participants watched a video of a White or Chinese male stealing money and were asked
to identify the culprit in a target-present or -absent lineup, using one of three lineup
procedures (simultaneous, sequential, and elimination).Results showed that lineup
procedures varied in effectiveness depending on the presence of the target and whether a
cross-race identification was being made. More research is required before denunciation
of the simultaneous lineup.

iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to my supervisor, Dr. Scoboria, who had enough faith in me to carry
out this research study even though it was outside of his typical area of research. His
feedback and support were invaluable and helped me to succeed in my first years of
graduate school. Thank you also to my committee members, Dr. Drakich and Dr.
Kwantes, for their feedback.
A big thank you to my research assistants: Cara Austen, John Mertz, Razaan
Barquni, Allison Chandler, and Quinn Downie. Without them, the timely completion of
this thesis would not have been possible. Also, a big thank you to all my friends, and
friends of friends, who agreed to have their photograph taken so I could conduct this
study. Without them this project would not have gotten off the ground.
I would also like to acknowledge my undergraduate psychology and law professor
Dr. Boyce. If I would have never seen the documentary titled After Innocence I would
have never become as passionate about research or the topic of false identifications as I
am today.
Finally, thank you to Mike Anderson for all of his support and for pushing me to
continue. And thank you to my parents who have spent endless hours reviewing and
editing many of my reports across the years.

v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ......................................................... iii
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. v
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... viii
LIST OF APPENDICIES .................................................................................................. ix
CHAPTER I: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1
Lineup Procedures .......................................................................................................... 2
Cross-Race Effect ........................................................................................................... 9
Current Study ................................................................................................................ 15
CHAPTER II: Method ...................................................................................................... 18
Participants .................................................................................................................... 18
Design ........................................................................................................................... 18
Materials ....................................................................................................................... 19
Procedure ...................................................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER III: Results ..................................................................................................... 27
Target-Present Lineups ................................................................................................. 27
Target-Absent Lineups.................................................................................................. 38
Diagnosticity ................................................................................................................. 41
CHAPTER IV: Discussion ............................................................................................... 43
Effectiveness of the Elimination Lineup....................................................................... 43
Moderating the Cross-Race Effect ................................................................................ 52
General Discussion ....................................................................................................... 54
References ......................................................................................................................... 60
Appendix A ....................................................................................................................... 68
Appendix B ....................................................................................................................... 69
Appendix C ....................................................................................................................... 70
Appendix D ....................................................................................................................... 74
Appendix E ....................................................................................................................... 75
VITA AUCTORIS ............................................................................................................ 76

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 The Number of Individuals Selecting Each Lineup Member 22
During the Final Mock Eyewitness Paradigm.
Table 2 The Number of Individuals Selecting Each Lineup Member for 28
Each Lineup Procedure.
Table 3 Proportion (Number) of Participants Selecting More Than One 39
Photograph When Presented the Sequential Lineup.
Table 4 Survival Rates After Judgment 1 and Identification Rates 30
Following Judgment 2 for Each Lineup Member for the Same-
and Other-Race Elimination Lineups.
Table 5 The Proportion of Participants Identifying Any of the Lineup 31

Members for Each Lineup Type (Choosing Rate).

vii
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Proportion of Correct Identifications (Target-Present) and Correct 33
Rejections (Target-Absent) for Same- and Other-Race
Identifications Collapsed Across Lineup Procedures.
Figure 2 Proportion of Correct Identifications (Target-Present) and Correct 34
Rejections (Target-Absent) for Each Lineup Collapsed across
Same- and Other-Race Identifications.
Figure 3 Proportion of Correct Identifications for Each Lineup for Same- 35
and Other-Race Identifications.
Figure 4 Proportion of Correct Rejections for Each Lineup for Same- and 39

Other-Race Identifications.

viii
LIST OF APPENDICIES
Appendix A Photographs Used to Construct the Lineups 68
Appendix B Simultaneous Lineup Form 69
Appendix C Sequential Lineup Form 70
Appendix D Elimination Lineup Form 74
Appendix E Demographic Questionnaire 75

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