For example, in Loftus experiments on eye witness testimony the participants were asked to say if there was broken glass present or not. This can be objectively and accurately measured and analysed The artificial and controlled environment used can be useful in ensuring other variables are not causing the effect. For example, in experiments into Jury prejudice, factors such as the nature of the crime, gender, race, and attractiveness can be kept the same or manipulated to see which is most likely to create a bias in favour or against a defendant, thus again establishing a cause and effect relationship. This environment allows standardised procedure and instructions to be applied, meaning that each participant is having the same experience, allowing accurate comparison of individual responses. For, example, when looking at the reliability of eye witness testimony, video or slides can be used to ensure each participant witnesses the same event exactly.
Discuss research into the effect of misleading information on Eye-Witness Testimony (EWT) Research into the effect of misleading questions on EWT was carried out by Loftus & Palmer. Their aim was to see how information supplied after an event could influence a witness’s memory for that event. In the 2nd experiment, experiment 2, the aim of the experiment was to provide additional insights into the origin of the different estimates of speed by the PP’s. Particularly, they wanted to find out if their verbal labelling had distorted the PP’s memories. Two lab studies both using independent measures design were carried out.
TRACY ANTWI-BOASIAKO COGNITIVE INTERVIEW The cognitive interview is a method of interviewing based on techniques to improve memory recall. The questioning techniques are used by the police to help to retrieve information from a witness. The 4 techniques include recalling information in a different narrative order where witnesses are encouraged to recall backward from the end to the beginning, recalling information from different perspective where witnesses are asked to describe what others might have seen, witnesses are asked to recall information during an incident into details, even that they think might not be vital and also witnesses are asked about their general life on the day of incident such as the feeling, weather etc. The interviewer tries to mentally reinstate the environmental and personal context of the crime for the witness. The use of the cognitive interview was encouraged by Geislemen study to set out to investigate the effectiveness of the cognitive interview.
Such an approach in this case would seek to understand the attitudes of ethnic minorities towards the police through methods such as semi-structured or unstructured interviews. Unstructured interviews are informal sessions with the interviewer asking open ended questions, in this case about attitudes to the police. The idea is that respondents are free to answer in depth. However a potential problem here is that researchers could ask leading questions or put across an anti police bias, which might encourage the respondents to exaggerate their experiences. A qualitative approach ought to collect data that are high in validity.
Often, threats or promises are made to the suspect off camera and then the camera is turned on for a false confession. Without an objective record of the custodial interrogation, it is difficult to gauge the reliability of the confession. For law enforcement agencies, recording interrogations can prevent disputes about how a suspect was treated, create a clear record of a suspect’s statements and increase public confidence in the criminal justice system. Recording interrogations can also deter officers from using illegal tactics to secure a
In the last case they would not only be perverting the course of justice but could also incriminate an innocent person. It is important to appreciate how much notice the average person takes of a situation and how accurately they remember and interpret the facts. This report will involve an in-depth investigation into each of the issues mentioned previously. It will reach a conclusion as to whether or not eye-witness testimony should be abolished completely or is still a crucial part of the criminal justice
Remembering some aspects of experience leads, by association, to other, but the sequence cannot be predicted and may seem confused to a listener. Cognitive interviewing is designed to facilitate accurate recall through a set of instructions. There are four basic principles, according to Fisher et al. (1989). Event-interviewing similarity Memory of an event such as a crime is enhanced when the psychological environment at the interview is similar to the environment at the original event.
Second main part is context reinstatement, this helps witnesses jog their memory and create the environment and feelings of the incident mentally. The witness would have to rethink what happened at the scene in their minds. Third main part is for the witness to change the order of the incident. A way to do this is to say what happened in reverse order. The last would be to change the perspective of the scene.
When a performance is rewarded, a subject will produce more of it and naturally when a performance is not rewarded, a subject will produce less of it. It is also known that the government rewards crime labs verifying unknown substances to be illegal narcotics, for finding a driver’s blood alcohol content to be over a certain number and determining a package of drugs is over a certain weight so a heavier charge can be imposed. Police often share their suspicions regarding suspects with lab workers before forensic examinations are performed. This introduces prejudice to lab personnel in areas such as fingerprint examination and chemical testing for accelerants in arson investigations. Some lab examiners feel they are part of the prosecution
One example of facial expressions would be chin thrusts, a gesture associated with anger. Federal officials in the real world are trained by Ekman to understand these facial expressions and what emotion they produce. If someone doesn’t want to talk, they are simply told to keep talking to them and read their facial reactions to the statements or questions. Now this leads to some questions like, “what does this mean for civil rights?” or, “does reading emotions invade a person’s privacy?” Real world courtrooms may come to a conclusion on whether or not this is invading a person’s rights, but for now, Ekman and Lightman will both continue to solve crimes based on body