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Social scientific research is having a substantial impact on eyewitness identification procedural reforms. Police agencies in the USA have changed their eyewitness practices based on the results of social scientific research. The purpose of this paper is to contribute new knowledge by using a unique set of data to describe detailed aspects of eyewitness identification procedures conducted as part of robbery investigations in Houston, TX.

Robbery investigators completed surveys following identification procedures conducted during a six-month period of time. The sample includes 975 identification procedures. The analysis describes important features of identification procedures and places results in the context of existing research.

Results show that photo spreads were the most frequently used lineup procedure and selection outcomes were similar to recent field studies conducted in the USA. Results also show that the type of procedure, presence of a weapon, cross-race identifications, and viewing opportunity were significantly correlated with selection outcomes.

Police are reforming their eyewitness identification procedures based on findings from social science research. The study measures and describe the characteristics of a large sample eyewitness procedures conducted by investigators in the field.

Eyewitness testimony can determine the outcome of criminal investigations. The cognitive interview (CI) has been widely used to collect informative and accurate accounts. However, face-to-face interviews have been restricted during the current pandemic, raising the need for using video-conferencing. The authors tested whether virtual interviews could produce elaborate accounts from eyewitnesses and if the CI superiority effect against a structured interview (SI) could be fully replicated online.

The authors used a 2 × 2 factorial design with interview condition (CI vs SI) and environment (face-to-face vs virtual) manipulated between-subjects. A total of 88 participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. Participants watched a mock robbery and were interviewed 48 h later using either the SI or the CI. Both interviews contained the same structure and interview phases but only the CI included its key cognitive mnemonics/ instructions. Both sessions were either face-to-face or online.

Participants interviewed with the CI recalled more information than participants interviewed with the SI, regardless of the interview environment. Both environments produced a comparable amount of recall. Report accuracy was high for all groups.

This can be crucial to inform police practices and research in this field by suggesting investigative interviews can be conducted virtually in situations such as the current pandemic or when time and resources do not allow for face-to-face interviewing.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study showing that the CI superiority effect can be replicated online and that a fully remote CI can produce elaborate accounts.

Both anecdotal and empirical evidence indicates that even well-intentioned eyewitnesses can make inaccurate identifications resulting in erroneous prosecutions and wrongful convictions. The risk of erroneous identification increases when witnesses are asked to identify people belonging to other races. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the policies which enhance the likelihood of obtaining accurate identifications from eyewitnesses. Legal implications especially relevant to police administrators in the USA including constitutional considerations and risks of civil liability are integrated with the empirical record and used to make policy recommendations likely to decrease legal and public relations entanglements for police.

This paper integrates an empirical literature review with legal research and analysis in order to advocate for prudent policy reforms.

Both the empirical record and current US law indicate that police administrators would be well-advised to require serial, double-blind identification procedures where witnesses are routinely warned about the perpetrator’s potential absence and required to give immediate certainty statements. Officers should be prohibited from using the same suspect with the same witness more than once and should be provided with training on the inherent dangers of inaccuracy associated with cross-racial identifications.

While a significant amount of material concerning eyewitness identification exists, most of the existing work does not integrate legal realities, especially those concerning civil liability, within the framework of the eyewitness identification literature. Nor does past work contextualize the need for reform with the emerging racially charged atmosphere in which US police must currently work.

Cites an example of eyewitness testimony which led to a wrongful conviction. Asks how accurate is such testimony? Considers the optimum environment for witnesses to remember events, the effect to witness of the use of disguises and weapons by suspects and the accuracy of memory over time. Discusses line‐ups and photo arrays, the race of the individuals involved and the ability to perform in court. Concludes that eyewitness must be subject to close scrutiny and not automatically accepted as truthful or accurate.

Industrial incident investigations determine what caused an adverse workplace event so that preventative measures can be instituted and reduce the risk of such incidents happening again. Investigators gather evidence from multiple sources in an investigation and one such source is the people in, or around, the industrial incident. The purpose of the current study is to examine if recall strategy could affect eyewitnesses' recollections of a workplace incident.

The current study is a 3 (Post‐Event Context: Think, Filler, Discuss)×2 (Incident Investigation Form: Psychologically‐Based vs. Standard Investigation Form) between‐subjects factorial design. Participant‐witnesses watched a simulated videotaped workplace incident (n=196) then either: thought about the event, discussed it with fellow witnesses, or engaged in an unrelated task. Subsequently, participants recalled the details of the adverse event on an incident report form: a Standard Investigation Form or a form based on principles of cognition (Psychologically‐Based Form).

Compared to the Standard Investigation Form condition, eyewitnesses in the Psychologically‐Based Form condition recalled significantly more pieces of accurate information at a reduced accuracy rate. Post‐event context produced no significant differences in participant‐witnesses' reporting.

The data suggest that incorporating some principles of memory and cognition into incident investigations have the potential to enhance accurate recollection of a workplace event.

This study is among the first to apply psychological theory to enhance eyewitness reports of an industrial incident. In so doing this research contributes to recent literature that explores eyewitness recall for industrial events.

The purpose of this study is to outline the specific details and lessons learned during a cold case collaborative effort, which granted graduate students and a professor from the University of South Florida the opportunity to assist Pasco Sheriff’s Office in the investigation of a cold case homicide.

The collaboration between law enforcement and academics is a new and emerging strategy to investigate cold cases and identify the elusive offenders who committed these crimes. Such collaboration aids law enforcement by obtaining a force multiplier for investigative resources, accessing cutting-edge evidence-based research and cultivating innovative approaches to their work. For academics, such collaboration allows the unique opportunity to engage in translational criminology, which is an important and increasingly encouraged aspect of the field.

In this paper, the authors provide an overview of the process used to study this cold case as part of an experiential academic course, provide evidence-based research findings relevant to cold case investigations and outline the steps for others to replicate the efforts.

The authors describe in detail the process used to “work” the cold case, academic research that the authors found useful in understanding and investigating cold cases, important lessons learned and advice for future academics and practitioners who undertake an incredible collaborative effort such as this.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the complex interplay between the media, school shootings and society from the perspective of mediatization of the victim. In mediatization of the victim, the media, in a crisis, plays a key role in connecting people, disseminating information, compiling a security-related picture and providing for potential new emergencies.

Design/approach – The chapter draws on Winfried Schulz's (2004) typology for the analysis of mediatization of the victim in the multidimensional manner. It examines how mediatization works in practice by applying Schulz's typology in the analysis of the two school shootings in Finland in Jokela in 2007 and in Kauhajoki in 2008. The empirical material consists of interviews with police, state and municipal officials and people from non-governmental organizations. Media materials (electronic and print) were collected from the major Finnish media houses and several state and community official web sites.

Findings – The chapter argues that the media shapes the construction of the victim in the process of mediatization and makes the role of victim and witness both central and ambiguous. The chapter concludes by drawing upon the work of French sociologist Luc Boltanski (1999) on morality, media and politics as it identifies the ways in which mediatization engages the affective potential of the spectator and evokes a specific disposition to act upon the suffering, thus, creating a moralizing effect on the spectator.

Originality/value – The chapter produces new theoretical and empirical knowledge on the complex interplay between the media, school shootings and society by discussing it from the perspective of the victim. Consequently, it contributes in deepening our understanding of the process of mediatization and the place of the victim in it in the case of violent crisis such as school shootings.

The purpose of this paper is to explain why ROC analysis is an inappropriate replacement for probative analysis in lineup research.

Taking as the medical example comparing two methods to detect the presence of a malignant tumor (Mickes et al., 2012), and operationally defining ROC analysis: radiologists are shown the results from two methods. Their confidence judgments create a graph of correct identifications by mistaken ones. The author can compare the methods on radiologists’ ability to differentiate sick from healthy. Lineup researchers create two distinct lineups. In target-present lineups, witnesses differentiate between the target and the foils, not the target and the innocent suspect. In target-absent lineups, witnesses cannot even differentiate between innocent suspects and foils, having seen none.

Eyewitness ROC curves are similar to probative analysis, but provide less useful information.

Researchers ware warned against using ROC when conducting lineup research.

Preventing inappropriate use of ROC analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential susceptibility of eyewitness memory to the presence of extraneous background speech that comprises a description consistent with, or at odds with, a target face.

A between-participants design was deployed whereby participants viewed an unfamiliar target face in the presence of quiet, or extraneous to-be-ignored speech comprising a verbal description that was either congruent or incongruent with the target face. After a short distractor task, participants were asked to describe the target face and construct a composite of the face using PRO-fit software. Further participants rated the likeness of the composites to the target.

Recall of correct facial descriptors was facilitated by congruent to-be-ignored speech and inhibited by incongruent to-be-ignored speech compared to quiet. Moreover, incorrect facial descriptors were reported more often in the incongruent speech condition compared with the congruent speech and quiet conditions. Composites constructed after exposure to incongruent speech were rated as worse likenesses to the target than those created after exposure to congruent speech and quiet. Whether congruent speech facilitated or impaired composite construction was found to depend on the distinctiveness of the target face.

The results suggest that the nature of to-be-ignored background speech has powerful effects on the accuracy of information verbally reported from having witnessed a face. Incongruent speech appears to disrupt the recognition processes that underpin face construction while congruent speech may have facilitative or detrimental effects on this process, depending on the distinctiveness of the target face.

This is one of the first studies to demonstrate that extraneous speech can produce adverse effects on the recall and recognition of complex visual information: in this case, the appearance of a human face.