Have you ever imagined being accused of a crime you didn't commit?, just because someone thought you looked like the criminal? This situation may seem unlikely, But it's more common than you might think. Many innocent people are recognized as guilty by witnesses who deceive themselves or are influenced by external factors.
The recognition of suspects is an important piece of evidence for criminal proceedings, But it's also a fragile and risky test. Human memory is not a photographic camera that faithfully records everything we see. It is a dynamic and complex process, which can be affected by several factors, how:
- The conditions of the crime, like lighting, the distance, stress, violence, and so on.
- The characteristics of the suspect and the witness, as age, Gender, Ethnicity, familiarity, and so on.
- The way the suspect is presented to the witness, such as the number of photos or people, the similarity between them, the order of presentation, and so on.
- The type of instruction that is given to the witness, as to whether or not she should make a choice, whether or not the suspect may be present, whether it should indicate your confidence in the answer, and so on.
- The presence of suggestions or pressures on the witness, as comments, Gestures, facial expressions, Rewards or punishments.
All of these factors can interfere with coding, in the storage and retrieval of information in the witness's memory. They can cause her to mistake the suspect for someone else she saw before or after the crime, or that she is induced to choose someone who is not sure.
Testimony Psychology is the area of psychology that studies the cognitive and social processes involved in the testimony of people who have witnessed or participated in events relevant to justice and can help understand and prevent false recognition of suspects. Research and experiments that show how the factors mentioned above can affect the memory of witnesses and generate errors and injustices.
There are procedures recommended by the scientific literature to decrease the likelihood of false recognition. These procedures include:
- Presenting the suspect amid other faces of non-suspicious people, through a photographic or face-to-face alignment;
- Avoid showing the same suspect over and over again;
- Instruct the witness properly, mentioning that the suspect may or may not be among the faces presented;
- Record the procedure and the witness' response in audio or video;
- Not giving feedback or reinforcement to the witness after their response.
These procedures are aimed at reducing undue influence on the witness and increasing his or her ability to discriminate between the suspect and others. They also aim to preserve the evidence of recognition for further analysis.
Read more at: