Making A Case
Interviewing Witnesses
MAKING A
CASE
Interviewing
Witnesses
Interviewing
Suspects
Creating A
Profile
Recognising Faces
Detecting Lies
Top-down
Typology (FBI)
Factors Affecting
Identification
Interrogation
Techniques
Bottom-up
Approach (Canter)
Cognitive Interview
False Confessions
Case Study
(Railway Rapist)
Introduction: Interviewing Witnesses
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Within this topic there are three areas to consider:
> Recognising faces.
> Factors influencing identification.
> The cognitive interview.
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Each of these areas has a research study to support the findings
under the heading of interviewing witnesses.
Interviewing Witnesses
One key area for the police and to be able to make a case is the
interviewing of witnesses who may have vital evidence to
give. Research from the cognitive approach suggests that
what a witness sees and remembers is influenced by many
factors including:
What might these factors include?
WHAT IS AN E-FIT?
Computerised method of synthesising images to produce
facial composites of wanted criminals based on
eyewitness descriptions
Who is this?
Recognising Faces
• Recognising faces is a highly complex
process that appears unique and finetuned in human beings.
• The Thatcher Effect shows us that we
are inclined to recognise upright faces.
• These findings and others help us to
understand the importance of accurate
face recognition during the process of
interviewing witnesses.
The Thatcher Effect
• The Thatcher effect has shown that
people are more likely to show
recognition for the face which has
upright distinct internal facial features.
Recognising Faces: 35-36
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Bruce and other researchers have shown
that there is a clear difference between
recognising familiar and unfamiliar faces.
Read the handout on Sinha et al (2006)
research from a meta-analysis of face
recognition research.
Match the 8 key factors on slide 9 that
influence facial recognition.
Sinha et al. (2006) Summary of Face Recognition
research.
Low-resolution images
Facial reconstruction
Familiarity
Required for facial reconstruction
Faces processed as a whole
(holistically)
Eyebrows and hairline = most
important
Facial reconstruction is stationary
CCTV images
Illumination influences recognition
Everyone has the ability to recognise
faces
Motion of face helps recognition
“Crimewatch” TV programme
Special neurons developed for
recognition
Faces and expressions are
processed differently
Facial reconstruction is
expressionless
Suspect seen in poor light
Background to Bruce et al’s study
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Familiar faces enjoy high recognition even under difficult circumstances, whereas
unfamiliar ones are often misidentified even in good conditions.
Familiar faces are recognised using their internal features (eyes, eyebrows,
nose, mouth)
Whereas unfamiliar ones are recognised by external features such as head
shape, hair and ears....
Witnesses tend to see suspects for a very short time and therefore use unfamiliar
face perception when creating a composite.
This means that external features will be described best.
However, witnesses are trying to recognise familiar faces and therefore are relying
on the internal features to identify them.
Internal and External
Features
Evaluation of Recognising Faces: Bruce et al
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What was the sample?
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What was the sampling method?
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Can it be generalised?
Evaluation of Recognising Faces: Bruce et al
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What method was used in the study?
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What are the strengths of this method?
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What are the weaknesses of this method?
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What is the advantage of using an independent design in this study?
Evaluation of Recognising Face: Bruce et al
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Comment on the reliability of memory in facial recognition?
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Comment on the reliability of the study (think about doing two experiments)
PROBLEMS / ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH FACE
RECOGNITION
 Expectations / stereotypes (Duncan, 1976)
 Limitations of technology
- exposure mode (static; expressionless)
* Errors in police procedure PG39
Factors influencing identification - Weapon focus
Loftus et al
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What happens when a weapon is involved in the crime?
Weapon focus: refers to the concentration of a witness’s attention on
a weapon which results in them having difficulty in recalling other
details of the scene & identifying the person of the crime.
Weapon Focus
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This is an estimator variable and is the idea that a witness
will focus more closely on the weapon than they will on the
person holding the weapon.
There is debate about the reason for this effect and whether
it is caused by the danger posed by the weapon or the
unusualness of the situation
Research into stress suggests that we perform poorly when
we are at both high and low levels of arousal and best at a
medium level of arousal
( Yerkes Dodson Law). This
would suggest that a witness’ recall of crime would be poor
when their level of physiological arousal is high. Attempts to
test this hypothesis are affected by both ecological validity
and ethical issues.
Evaluating factors influencing identification
Weapon focus: Loftus et al
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What method was used in the study?
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What are the strengths of this method?
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What are the weaknesses of this method?
Evaluating factors influencing identification
Weapon focus: Loftus et al
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Self-reports were also used in the study. What are the problems with this method?
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Is eye fixation data a valid measure of someone’s attention to pieces of research?
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Why is it effective to have a control group in this case?
Evaluating factors influencing identification
Weapon focus: Loftus et al
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What other factors besides the weapon could have caused the individual to forget
what happened in the crime scene?
Comment on the reliability of the study (note: two experiments were carried out).
The cognitive interview
Fisher et al
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The cognitive interview is a set of instructions given by the interviewer to the witness
to reinstate the context of the original event and to search through memory by using
a variety of retrieval methods
It rests on two basic assumptions:
Memory of an event is made up of an interconnected network and that there should
therefore be several ways of getting to the same point.
Retrieval from memory will be more effective if at the time of retrieval the context
surrounding the original events can be reinstated.
Cognitive interviewing is designed to facilitate accurate recall through a set of
instructions.
The Principles of CI: Page 42
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Interview Similarity
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Focused retrieval
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Extensive retrieval
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Witness-compatible questioning
Fisher et al. Field Test of the Cognitive Interview
Fisher and Geigelman:
• Found that if detectives were trained in
CIT (cognitive interview technique, they
found out significantly more information
than those who were not trained.
• It did take longer to conduct the
interview, but the difference was not
significant.
The cognitive interview
Fisher et al
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There are four basic principles, according to Fisher et al (1989). Explain each of
them in a bit more detail:
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Interview similarity:
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Focused retrieval:
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Extensive retrieval:
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Witness-compatible questioning:
Evaluating the cognitive interview
Fisher et al
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What could be a problem with the sample?
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Which types of crimes will work best with the cognitive interview?
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The CI depends on the witness being cooperative. Why?
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What are some of the problems with the CI?
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What do the police need to be careful about when carrying out the cognitive
interview?
Overall: Evaluating research into Interviewing Witnesses
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How are the studies reductionist?
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Do the studies explain witness behaviour through personality or situational factors?
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Is the research ethnocentric?
Evaluating research into Interviewing Witnesses
How can the research findings be applied to everyday life?