Alibi Assessment and Believability Across Different Legal Systems and Cultural Contexts

Abstract

While the majority of alibi research to date has been in the American system, this chapter takes a deeper look at the ways in which our adversarial system structure might impact the handling and use of alibi evidence. Nieuwkamp and Mergaerts bring an international perspective to the text by discussing the inquisitorial system’s outlook on a suspect’s alibi. They begin by briefly outlining the basic differences between the systems, then delve into the similarities and differences in how alibis are sought, handled, and ultimately interpreted to be truthful or not. The discussion compares alibi evaluators and alibi evidence in the different systems while highlighting the lack of diversity of perspectives in considering multiple legal systems and structures when researching alibi evidence. The authors also point out the possibility that research results to date may be a consequence of the samples we utilize (generally asking American college students to act as mock investigators or jurors, quite unlike asking real-world detectives or attorneys how they consider and handle alibi evidence in actual cases).