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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.

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.

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.

As eyewitnesses provide the most valuable information for criminal investigations, it is important to further develop and test techniques for collecting eyewitness testimony so that they meet the major objective of a police interview: obtaining details pertaining to criminal actions. The purpose of this paper is to test a new instruction – the re-enactment investigative instruction – formulated to collect the most fine-grained details of a criminal event as accurately as possible. It leads the interviewee to decompose all directly recollected actions into the most minimal actions so that the event can be accurately re-enacted.

In all, 40 participants individually viewed a video depicting a robbery, were randomly assigned to a re-enactment or structured interview (SI) group and then interviewed face-to-face. Each interview was comprised of two free recall phases and a questioning phase. Manipulation of the re-enactment instruction took place in the second free recall phase of the re-enactment interviews (RIs).

The RI elicited more correct information compared to the SI (d=1.14), and slightly but not significantly less incorrect information (d=0.09). Participants in the RI condition reported significantly more details pertaining to general and specific actions.

The re-enactment instruction shows the potential to increase witness recall in a way that promotes recall of both additional correct information and investigative-relevant information.

The instruction provides witnesses a retrieval strategy that facilitates overcoming both the gap between memory availability and accessibility and the gap between memory availability and output regulation, eliciting more details with no significant increase of errors.

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.

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.

Archives are repositories of memory, providing reliable evidence for examining the past. The four types of memory – personal, collective, historical, and archival – interact in complex and sometimes baffling ways to enable one to understand the past and to draw lessons from it. Archival memory is a social construct reflecting power relationships in society. Archivists and manuscripts curators play the important role of mediator in selecting records for preservation and providing research access to such collections. By recognizing and overcoming the bias toward records of powerful groups in society, archivists can provide a more balanced perspective on the past, and enable future generations to examine and evaluate the activities and contributions of all voices in one’s culture. Archives thus serve an important role in identifying and preserving the documentation that forms one’s historical memory.

The purpose of this study isto synthesize recent empirical research investigating memory of stressful critical incidents (both simulated and occurring in the field) among law enforcement officers.

The study used the approach of systematic state-of-the-art review.

In total, 20 studies of police and military officers show reduced detail and accuracy of high- versus low-stress incidents, especially for peripheral versus target information. Decrements in memory performance were mediated by the extent of physiological stress responses. Delayed recall accuracy was improved among officers that engaged in immediate post-incident rehearsal, including independent debriefing or reviewing body-worn camera footage.

Most studies were not found through systematic database searches, highlighting a need for broader indexing and/or open access publishing to make research more accessible.

By understanding how stress physiology enhances or interferes with memory encoding, consolidation and recall, evidence-based practices surrounding post-incident evidence gathering are recommended.

The current review addresses common public misconceptions of enhanced cognitive performance among police relative to the average citizen.

The current work draws from scientific knowledge about the pervasive influence of stress physiology on memory to inform existing practices surrounding post-incident evidence gathering among police.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss two distinct but interrelated areas, namely witness/victim and suspect interviewing, and to argue that both must continue to evolve, suggest how they might do so, and that this process must be driven by emergent theory and contemporary empirical research.

The paper outlines the impact of psychological theory and empirical research to investigative interviewing in recent decades.

It is argued that in order to stay ahead of the game, the field of investigative interviewing (suspect and witness) must continue to evolve in such a manner that not only protects and fosters the important practitioner/academic relationship, but also ensures that future directions are driven by empirical research, with recourse to emergent theory.

The paper outlines the impact of psychological theory and empirical research on investigative interviewing and the consequent enhancement of the interviewing of both suspected offenders and witnesses. The paper demonstrates that working closely together academic research can make a difference, and influence law, policy decisions and training guidelines in order to improve practice.

The purpose of this paper is to test how modifying one’s alibi statement interacts with exposure to deceptive interrogation techniques.

In all, 90 participants walked about a university building for 15 minutes and either stole an envelope from a staff pigeonhole (guilty condition) or put the envelope there along the way (innocent condition). Subsequently, participants were asked to provide an alibi for the past 15 minutes. Guilty and half of the innocent participants were instructed to omit that they had been in the vicinity of the pigeonholes. The rest of the innocent participants were asked to tell the truth. Several days later, participants were questioned about six statements taken from their alibis, three of which contained altered information.

As expected, participants were largely blind to our alterations, with detection rates ranging from 1 to 36 percent. Contrary to cognitive load predictions, detection rates did not vary as a function of truthfulness. Rather, guilty participants were less likely to detect alterations than innocents.

Memory distrust and guilty suspects’ aim to keep a low profile might be possible explanations for these findings.

It is recommended that law enforcement officers and other legal practitioners refrain from using deceptive interrogation techniques and such techniques that can cause inconsistencies in suspects’ reports. Researcher should make it their task to educate these professional groups about the natural occurrence of memory related, non-deceptive inconsistencies in successive statements.

This research uses a new methodology to study the effect of deceptive interrogation techniques on both innocent and guilty suspects. The findings are relevant for legal practitioners and researchers.