Showup identifications: the effects of presence of stolen property and suspect’s denial on identification performance

A showup identification is the presentation of a single suspect to an eyewitness. I used a simulated theft paradigm and subsequent showup identification to examine the effects of stolen property, suspects’ verbal behaviour, and target-presence on eyewitness identification performance. I used a 2 (suspect: innocent, guilty) X 2 (stolen property: present, hidden) X 3 (verbal behaviour: denial with explanation, denial, silence) between-subjects factorial design. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that both the target and stolen property, independently, and significantly predicted the accuracy of identification decisions. Surprisingly, the presence of stolen property facilitated more accurate identification decisions from eyewitnesses.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Criminology

Grantor

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Smith, Andrew

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Cutler, Brian

• Showups
• Eyewitness identification
• System variables
• Context effect
• Verbal behaviour

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10155/145

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ontariotechu.scholaris.ca:10155/145