Suggestive Eyewitness Identification Procedures and the Supreme Court’s Reliability Test in Light of Eyewitness Science: 30 Years Later
- Gary L. Wells,
- Deah S. Quinlivan
- … show all 2 hide
Abstract
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling concerning suggestive eyewitness identification procedures (Manson v. Braithwaite, 1977, 432 U.S. 98) has not been revisited by the Court in the intervening 30+ years. Meanwhile, scientific studies of eyewitnesses have progressed and DNA exonerations show that mistaken identification is the primary cause of convictions of the innocent. We analyzed the two-inquiry logic in Manson in light of eyewitness science. Several problems are discussed. Ironically, we note that suggestive identification procedures (determined in the first inquiry) boost the eyewitnesses’ standing on three of the five criteria (used in the second inquiry) that are used to decide whether the suggestive procedures were a problem. The net effect undermines safeguards intended by the Court and destroys incentives to avoid suggestive procedures.
Look
Inside
Within this Article
- Manson v Braithwaite
- The Science
- The Manson Test in Light of the Science
- Alternatives to Manson
- Concluding Comments
- References
- References
Related Content
Supplementary Material (0)
References (110)
- Bartlett, J. C., & Memon, A. (2006). Eyewitness memory of young and older eyewitnesses. In R. C. L. Lindsay, D. F. Ross, J. D. Read, & M. P. Toglia (Eds.), Handbook of eyewitness psychology: Memory for people (pp. 309–338). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Behrman, B. W., & Davey, S. L. (2001). Eyewitness identification in actual criminal cases: An archival analysis. Law and Human Behavior, 25, 475–491. CrossRef
- Behrman, B. W., & Richards, R. E. (2005). Suspect/foil identification in actual crimes and in the laboratory: A reality monitoring analysis Law and Human Behavior, 29, 279–301. CrossRef
- Bower, G. H., & Karlin, M. B. (1974). Depth of processing pictures of faces and recognition memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 103, 751–757. CrossRef
- Bradfield, A. L., & Wells, G. L. (2000). The perceived validity of eyewitness identification testimony: A test of the five Biggers criteria. Law and Human Behavior, 24, 581–594. CrossRef
- Bradfield, A. L., Wells, G. L, & Olson, E. A. (2002). The damaging effect of confirming feedback on the relation between eyewitness certainty and identification accuracy. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 112–120. CrossRef
- Brigham, J. C., & Cairns, D. L. (1988). The effect of mugshot inspections on eyewitness identification accuracy. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 18, 1394–1410. CrossRef
- Brodes v. State. (2005). 614 S.E.2d 766, Georgia.
- Caputo, D., & Dunning, D. (2006). Distinguishing accurate identifications from erroneous ones: Post-dictive indicators of eyewitness accuracy. In R. C. L. Lindsay, D. F. Ross, J. D. Read, & M. P. Toglia (Eds.), Handbook of eyewitness psychology: Memory for people (pp. 427–451). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Clark, S. E. (2005). A re-examination of the effects of biased lineup instructions in eyewitness identification. Law and Human Behavior, 29, 395–424. CrossRef
- Clark, S. E., & Tunnicliff, J. L. (2001). Selecting lineup foils in eyewitness identification: Experimental control and real-world simulation. Law and Human Behavior, 25, 199–216. CrossRef
- Commonwealth v. Johnson. (1995). 650 N.E. 2d, 1257, Mass.
- Connors, E., Lundregan, T., Miller, N., & McEwan, T. (1996). Convicted by juries, exonerated by science: Case studies in the use of DNA evidence to establish innocence after trial. Alexandria, VA: National Institute of Justice.
- Cutler, B. L., & Penrod, S. D. (1995). Mistaken identification: The eyewitness, psychology, and the law. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Cutler, B. L., Penrod, S. D., & Stuve, T. E. (1988). Juror decision making in eyewitness identification cases. Law and Human Behavior, 12, 41–55. CrossRef
- Deffenbacher, K. A., Bornstein, B. H., & Penrod, S. D. (2006). Mugshot exposure effects: Retroactive interference, mugshot commitment, source confusion, and unconscious transference. Law and Human Behavior, 30, 287–307. CrossRef
- Dixon, S., & Memon, A. (2005). The effect of post-identification feedback on the recall of crime and culprit details. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19, 935–951. CrossRef
- Douglass, A. B., & McQuiston-Surrett, D. M. (2006). Post-identification feedback: Exploring the effects of sequential photospreads and eyewitnesses awareness of the identification task. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 991–1007. CrossRef
- Douglass, A. B., & Steblay, N. (2006). Memory distortion in eyewitnesses: A meta-analysis of the post-identification feedback effect. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 859–869. CrossRef
- Doyle, J. M. (2005). True witness: Cops, courts, science, and the battle against misidentification. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Dunning, D., & Perretta, S. (2002). Automaticity and eyewitness accuracy: A 10–12 s rule for distinguishing accurate from inaccurate positive identifications. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 951–962. CrossRef
- Dunning, D., & Stern, L. B. (1994). Distinguishing accurate from inaccurate identifications via inquiries about decision processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 818–835. CrossRef
- Ebbinghaus, H. E. (1885). Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology. New York: Dover, 1964.
- Fox, S. G., & Walters, H. A. (1986). The impact of general versus specific expert testimony and eyewitness confidence upon mock juror judgment. Law and Human Behavior, 10, 215–228. CrossRef
- Gilbert vs. California. (1967). 388 U.S. 263.
- Gorenstein, G. W., & Ellsworth, P. C. (1980). Effect of choosing an incorrect photograph on a later identification by an eyewitness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65, 616–622. CrossRef
- Hafstad, G. S., Memon, A., & Logie, R. (2004). Post-identification feedback, confidence and recollections of witnessing conditions in child witnesses. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18, 901–912. CrossRef
- Harley, E. M., Carlsen, K. A., & Loftus, G. R. (2004). The “saw-it-all-along” effect: Demonstrations of visual hindsight bias. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, 960–968. CrossRef
- Haw, R. M., & Fisher, R. P. (2004). Effects of administrator-witness contact on eyewitness identification accuracy. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 1106–1112. CrossRef
- Hinz, T., & Pezdek, K. (2001). The effect of exposure to multiple lineups on face identification accuracy. Law and Human Behavior, 25, 185–198. CrossRef
- Junkin, T. (2004). Bloodsworth: The true story of the first death row inmate exonerated by DNA. Chapel Hill: Algonquin.
- Kahneman, D. (1973). Attention and effort. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Lindsay, R. C. L., & Malpass, R. S. (1999). Measuring lineup fairness [Special issue]. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 13, S1–S7. CrossRef
- Lindsay, R. C. L., & Wells, G. L. (1980). What price justice? Exploring the relationship between lineup fairness and identification accuracy. Law and Human Behavior, 4, 303–314. CrossRef
- Loftus, E. F. (1979). Eyewitness testimony. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
- Loftus, E. F., & Doyle, J. M. (1997). Eyewitness testimony: Civil and criminal. Charlottesville, VA: Lexis law Publishing.
- Loftus, E. F., & Greene, E. (1980). Warning: Even memory for faces may be contagious. Law and Human Behavior, 4, 323–334. CrossRef
- Loftus, E. F., Loftus, G. R., & Messo, J. (1987). Some facts about “weapon focus”. Law and Human Behavior, 11, 55–62. CrossRef
- Loftus, E. F., Miller, D. G., & Burns, H. J. (1978). Semantic integration of verbal information into visual memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 4, 19–31. CrossRef
- Loftus, G. R., & Harley, E. M. (2005). Why is it easier to identify someone close than far away? Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 12, 43–65.
- Malpass, R. S. (1981). Effective size and defendant bias in eyewitness identification lineups. Law and Human Behavior, 5, 299–309. CrossRef
- Malpass, R. S., & Devine, P. G. (1981). Eyewitness identification: Lineup instructions and the absence of the offender. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66, 482–489. CrossRef
- Manson v. Braithwaite. (1977). 432 U.S. 98.
- Mecklenburg, S. (2006). Addendum to the report to the legislature of the State of Illinois: The Illinois pilot program on sequential double-blind identification procedures. Retrieved February 20, 2008 from http://www.chicagopolice.org/Addendum%20to%20IP-Report.pdf.
- Morgan, C. A., Hazlett, G., Doran, A, Garrett, S., Hoyt, G., Thomas, P., Baranoski, M., & Southwick, S. M. (2004). Accuracy of eyewitness memory for persons encountered during exposure to highly intense stress. International Journal of Psychiatry and the Law, 27, 265–279. CrossRef
- Neil v. Biggers. (1972). 409 U.S. 188.
- Neuschatz, J. S., Preston, E. L., Burkett, A. D., Toglia, M. R., Lampinen, J. M., Neuschatz, J. S., Fairless, A. H., Lawson, D. S., Powers, R. A., & Goodsell, C. A. (2005). The effects of post-identification feedback and age on retrospective eyewitness memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 19, 435–453. CrossRef
- Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231–259. CrossRef
- Patterson, K. E., & Baddeley, A. D. (1977). When face recognition fails. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 3, 406–407. CrossRef
- Penrod, S. (2005). Eyewitness identification evidence: How well are witnesses and police performing? Criminal Justice Magazine, 54, 36–47.
- People v. Adams. (1981). 423 N.E. 2d, 379 (NY).
- Phillips, M. R., McAuliff, B. D., Kovera, M. B., & Cutler, B. L. (1999). Double-blind photoarray administration as a safeguard against investigator bias. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84, 940–951. CrossRef
- Pigott, M. A., & Brigham, J. C. (1985). Relationship between accuracy of prior description and facial recognition. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 547–555. CrossRef
- Pozzulo, J. (2006). Person description and identification by child eyewitnesses. In R. C. L. Lindsay, D. F. Ross, J. D. Read, & M. P. Toglia (Eds.), Handbook of eyewitness psychology: Memory for people (pp. 283–308). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Rosenthal, R. (2002). Covert communication in classrooms, clinics, courtrooms, and cubicles. American Psychologist, 57, 838–849. CrossRef
- Rosenthal, R., & Rubin, D. B. (1978). Interpersonal expectancy effects: The first 345 studies. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3, 377–386. CrossRef
- Russano, M. B., Dickinson, J. J., Greathouse, S. M., & Kovera, M. B. (2006). “Why don’t you take another look at number three?” Investigator knowledge and its effects on eyewitness confidence and identification decisions. Cardozo Public Law, Policy, and Ethics Journal, 4, 355–379.
- Sarason, I. G., & Stroops, R. (1978). Test anxiety and the passage of time. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 102–108. CrossRef
- Scheck, B., Neufeld, P., & Dwyer, J. (2000). Actual innocence. New York: Random House.
- Semmler, C., & Brewer, N. (2006). Post-identification feedback effects on face recognition confidence: Evidence for metacognitive influences. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 895–916. CrossRef
- Semmler, C., & Brewer, N. (2007). Assessing the reliability of eyewitness identification evidence: The influence of metacognitive factors. Paper presented at the 3rd International Congress of Psychology and Law, Adelaide, Australia.
- Semmler, C., Brewer, N., & Wells, G. L. (2004). Effects of postidentification feedback on eyewitness identification and nonidentification. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 334–346. CrossRef
- Shapiro, P. N., & Penrod, S. (1986). Meta-analysis of facial identification studies. Psychological Bulletin, 100, 139–156. CrossRef
- Seelau, S. M., & Wells, G. L. (1995). Applied eyewitness research: The other mission. Law and Human Behavior, 19, 317–322. CrossRef
- Shiffman, H. R., & Bobko, D. J. (1975). Effects of stimulus complexity on the perception of brief temporal intervals. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 103, 156–159. CrossRef
- Simmons v. United States. (1968). 390 U.S. 385, 88 S. Ct. 967, 971.
- Skagerberg, E. M. (2007). Co-witness feedback in lineups. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21, 489–497. CrossRef
- Slater, A. (1994). Identification parades: A scientific evaluation. Police Research Award Scheme. London: Police Research Group, Home Office.
- Smith, S. M., Lindsay, R. C. L., & Pryke, S. (2000). Postdictors of eyewitness errors: Can false identification be diagnosed? Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 542–550. CrossRef
- Sporer, S. L. (1993). Eyewitness identification accuracy, confidence, and decision times in simultaneous and sequential lineups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 22–33. CrossRef
- Sporer, S., Penrod, S., Read, D., & Cutler, B. L. (1995). Choosing, confidence, and accuracy: A meta-analysis of the confidence-accuracy relation in eyewitness identification studies. Psychological Bulletin, 118, 315–327. CrossRef
- State v. Dubose. (2005). 699 N.W.2d 582, Wisconsin.
- State v. Hunt. (2003). 69 P.3d 571, Kansas.
- State v. Johnson. (2005). 836 N.E. 2d., Ohio.
- State v. Ledbetter. (1981). 441, A.2d 595, Connecticut.
- State v. Ledbetter. (2005). 881 A.2d 290, Connecticut.
- State v. Ramirez. (1991). 817 P.2d 774, 780–81, Utah.
- Steblay, N. M. (1992). A meta-analytic review of the weapon focus effect. Law and Human Behavior, 16, 413–424. CrossRef
- Steblay, N. M. (1997). Social influence in eyewitness recall: A meta-analytic review of lineup instruction effects. Law and Human Behavior, 21, 283–298. CrossRef
- Steblay, N. M., Dysart, J., Fulero, S., & Lindsay, R. C. L. (2003). Eyewitness accuracy rates in police showup and lineup presentations: A meta-analytic comparison. Law and Human Behavior, 27, 523–540. CrossRef
- Stern, L. B., & Dunning, D. (1994). Distinguishing accurate from inaccurate eyewitness identifications: A reality monitoring approach. In D. F. Ross, J. D. Read, & M. P. Toglia (Eds.), Adult eyewitness testimony: Current trends and developments (pp. 273–299). New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Stovall v. Denno. (1967). 388 U.S. 293.
- Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence. (1999). Eyewitness evidence: A guide for law enforcement. Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.
- U .S. vs. Ash. (1973). 413 U.S. 300.
- U .S. vs. Telfaire. (1979). 469 F.2d 552.
- U .S. vs. Wade. (1967). 388 U.S. 218.
- U .S. v. Wong. (1994). 40 F.3d.
- Valentine, T., Pickering, A., & Darling, S. (2003). Characteristics of eyewitness identification that predict the outcome of real lineups. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 17, 969–993. CrossRef
- Weber, N., Brewer, N., Wells, G. L., Semmler, C., & Keast, A. (2004). Eyewitness identification accuracy and response latency: The unruly 10–12 s rule. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 10, 139–147. CrossRef
- Wegner, D. M. (2002). The illusion of conscious will. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Wells, G. L. (1978). Applied eyewitness testimony research: System variables and estimator variables. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 1546–1557. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L. (1984). The psychology of lineup identifications. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 14, 89–103. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L. (1985). Verbal descriptions of faces from memory: Are they diagnostic of identification accuracy? Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 619–626. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L. (1988). Eyewitness identification: A system handbook. Toronto: Carswell Legal Publications.
- Wells, G. L. (2006). Eyewitness identification: Systemic reforms. Wisconsin Law Review, 2006, 615–643.
- Wells, G. L., & Bradfield, A. L. (1998). “Good, you identified the suspect”: Feedback to eyewitnesses distorts their reports of the witnessing experience. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 360–376. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L., & Bradfield, A. L. (1999). Distortions in eyewitnesses’ recollections: Can the postidentification feedback effect be moderated? Psychological Science, 10, 138–144. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L., Ferguson, T. J., & Lindsay, R. C. L. (1981). The tractability of eyewitness confidence and its implication for triers of fact. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66, 688–696. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L., & Hryciw, B. (1984). Memory for faces: Encoding and retrieval operations. Memory and Cognition, 12, 338–344.
- Wells, G. L., & Leippe, M. R. (1981). How do triers of fact infer the accuracy of eyewitness identifications? Memory for peripheral detail can be misleading. Journal of Applied Psychology, 66, 682–687. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L., Leippe, M. R., & Ostrom, T. M. (1979). Guidelines for empirically assessing the fairness of a lineup. Law and Human Behavior, 3, 285–293. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L., Lindsay, R. C. L., & Ferguson, T. J. (1979). Accuracy, confidence, and juror perceptions in eyewitness identification. Journal of Applied Psychology, 64, 440–448. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L., Malpass, R. S., Lindsay, R. C. L., Fisher, R. P., Turtle, J. W., & Fulero, S. (2000). From the lab to the police station: A successful application of eyewitness research. American Psychologist, 55, 581–598. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L., & Murray, D. M. (1983). What can psychology say about the Neil vs. Biggers criteria for judging eyewitness identification accuracy? Journal of Applied Psychology, 68, 347–362. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L., Olson, E., & Charman, S. (2003). Distorted retrospective eyewitness reports as functions of feedback and delay. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 9, 42–52. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L., Rydell, S. M., & Seelau, E. P. (1993). On the selection of distractors for eyewitness lineups. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 835–844. CrossRef
- Wells, G. L., Small, M., Penrod, S., Malpass, R. S., Fulero, S. M., & Brimacombe, C. A. E. (1998). Eyewitness identification procedures: Recommendations for lineups and photospreads. Law and Human Behavior, 22, 603–647. CrossRef
- Whitley, B. E. Jr., & Greenberg, M. S. (1986). The role of eyewitness confidence in juror perceptions of credibility. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 16, 387–409. CrossRef
- Wright, D. B., & McDaid, A. T. (1996). Comparing system and estimator variables using data from real lineups. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 10, 75–84. CrossRef
- Wright, D. B., & Skagerberg, E. M. (2007). Post-identification feedback affects real eyewitnesses. Psychological Science, 18, 172–178. CrossRef
About this Article
- Title
- Suggestive Eyewitness Identification Procedures and the Supreme Court’s Reliability Test in Light of Eyewitness Science: 30 Years Later
- Journal
-
Law and Human Behavior
Volume 33, Issue 1 , pp 1-24 - Cover Date
- 2009-02-01
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10979-008-9130-3
- Print ISSN
- 0147-7307
- Online ISSN
- 1573-661X
- Publisher
- Springer US
- Additional Links
- Topics
- Keywords
-
- Eyewitness
- Lineups
- Suggestive identification procedures
- Expert eyewitness testimony
- Authors
-
-
Gary L. Wells
(1)
- Deah S. Quinlivan (1)
-
Gary L. Wells
- Author Affiliations
-
- 1. Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, West 112 Lago, Ames, IO, 50011, USA