Committee Chair

Ross, David F.

Department

Dept. of Psychology

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

In October of 1999 the United States Department of Justice published a set of guidelines to assist law enforcement in the collection of identification evidence. The purpose of the present study is to assess the knowledge possessed by police investigators about the Guidelines and other variables that can impact the accuracy of eyewitness memory. In the present study police investigators were given a questionnaire originally developed by Kassin, Tub, Hosch, and Memon (2001) for "experts" or psychologists, who were teachers and researchers in the area of eyewitness memory. By comparing the responses by police investigators with those provided by the experts a significant lack of correspondence between the knowledge base of investigators verses experts was revealed. Specifically, the investigators differed from experts on 22 of the 30 statements on the questionnaire indicating that those who are actually conducting lineups have limited knowledge of the factors that impact the accuracy of eyewitness memory.

Acknowledgments

I want to express my gratitude to several key people that have made a lasting impression on my life and opened many doors of opportunity. Dr. David Ross, thank you for your understanding, guidance, humor and encouragement (I can't wait for our mini-series). Dr. Biderman, thank you for your patience, wisdom and advice on statistics and dogs. Thank you, Honorable W. Neil Thomas, III, for inspiring the hope that we can make a difference and being a prime example of a true team player. Betty Headrick, thank you, thank you, thank you! You are a wonderful teacher and faithful friend. Seeing you always makes my day! And Brad, my best friend who doesn't know what he is in for!

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

4-2003

Subject

Eyewitness identification; Examination of witnesses--United States; Identification; Police lineups

Discipline

Cognition and Perception

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

v, 33 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

LB2369.2 .D864 2003

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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