Deck 5: Eyewitness Identification and Testimony

Question 1

As the authors point out, witnesses' certainty may be inflated by two factors:

A) concerns about safety and a previous history of case testimony.
B) biased questioning and poor lineup procedures.
C) previous victimizations and media attention.
D) witnesses' age and confidence in the criminal justice system.

Answer 1

biased questioning and poor lineup procedures.

Question 2

Which statement about juror evaluation of eyewitness testimony is TRUE?

A) Jury deliberation is an effective process for uncovering mistakes in eyewitness testimony.
B) Jurors seem to be very accurate in identifying weaknesses in eyewitness testimony.
C) Jurors do not appear to be swayed by the level of confidence an eyewitness conveys.
D) Jurors seem to place undue faith in the reliability of eyewitnesses.

Answer 2

Jurors seem to place undue faith in the reliability of eyewitnesses.

Question 3

Which statement about eyewitness testimony is FALSE?

A) In 2012 the Canadian Judicial Council explained that wrongful convictions happen when eyewitnesses are biased or pressured to convict.
B) In the United States, mistaken identification played a role in 72 percent of the 307 cases of DNA exoneration.
C) Evidence in the form of mistaken eyewitness identification is the number one source of wrongful convictions.
D) In a study that looked at 347 cases where eyewitness testimony was the only evidence, about half of the convictions had only one eyewitness.

Answer 3

In 2012 the Canadian Judicial Council explained that wrongful convictions happen when eyewitnesses are biased or pressured to convict.

Question 4

The biochemical representation of our experiences in the brain is referred to as:

A) peptide images.
B) memory trace.
C) cerebral coding.
D) neuro-projections

Question 5

When describing memory, _____ is the first component required in the process necessary for retention.

A) storage
B) retrieval
C) top-down processing
D) encoding

Question 6

Which statement is NOT an error by police noted in the investigation into the murder of Barbara Stoppel?

A) The inability to find a murder weapon led to a significant delay before eyewitnesses could identify suspects.
B) The picture of the defendant shown to eyewitnesses was significantly different from others.
C) The lineup did not include others of similar height to the defendant.
D) Media images of the defendant may have unduly influenced eyewitnesses.

Question 7

What is NOT one of the criteria set up in R. v. Clark for evaluating the admissibility of post-hypnotic evidence?

A) The hypnotist should not use leading questions or suggestive body language.
B) The interview should be recorded
C) The hypnotist should be fully versed in the case but carry no notes into the session.
D) The interview should only be conducted by an independent, qualified professional.

Question 8

Asking someone to "Tell me everything you can remember" is an example of _____recall.

A) cued
B) reconstructive
C) recognition
D) free

Question 9

According to Young et al.'s social-cognitive model, other-race faces are processed in a _____ manner, indicating that the facial components are viewed independently.

A) mono-directed
B) consecutive-array
C) feature-based
D) hybrid-menu

Question 10

According to Young et al.'s social-cognitive model, same-race faces are processed in a _____ manner, indicating that the face is viewed as a unified whole.

A) synchronistic
B) coordinated
C) configural
D) holistic

Question 11

The model for the idea that we classify the features of those within our own race in more detail is called:

A) cultural singularity.
B) ethnic identification.
C) perceptual-expertise.
D) anthropologicalism.

Question 12

According to the text, cross-examination does not seem to be effective at rooting out eyewitness mistakes primarily because:

A) The prosecution can always come back after cross-examination and rehabilitate the witness.
B) Most jurors have already made up their minds about the testimony before cross-examination.
C) The eyewitness is hard to undermine if they honestly believe they are telling the truth.
D) The judge is not likely to allow eyewitnesses to be badgered in a cross-examination.

Question 13

The memory is often described as having the following components:

A) encoding, storage, retrieval.
B) selection, identification, access.
C) processing, viewing, retrieval
D) processing, encoding, access.

Question 14

Which statement about cross-race effects in identification is FALSE?

A) In lineups, within-race accuracy has proven to be worse than cross-race effects.
B) Cross-race effects do not seem to vary by any particular ethnic group.
C) Cross-race effects are found in babies as young as nine months and are stable throughout life.
D) Contact over time does seem to reverse cross-race effects.

Question 15

Which is NOT one of the criteria for evaluating eyewitness evidence used in Canada's guidelines?

A) the seriousness of the crime being observed
B) the circumstances of the procedure used to obtain an identification
C) the reliability of the witness
D) the description of the observation given

Question 16

Canadian researchers studying the weapon focus effect argue that it would also be important to consider the counter-hypothesis of the:

A) meta-analysis effect.
B) conscious transference effect.
C) unusual item effect.
D) delayed panic effect.

Question 17

Which cause of wrongful convictions is the LEAST likely of the four discussed by the authors?

A) forensic science problems
B) eyewitness misidentification
C) false confessions
D) faulty informant testimony

Question 18

According to the text, which statement concerning guidelines for evaluating eyewitness testimony is FALSE?

A) Judges are cautioned against deviating from model instructions and referring specifically to the case at hand.
B) Jury instructions for weighing eyewitness testimony are difficult to apply to actual crimes.
C) Under stress, witnesses consistently overestimate the duration of a brief event.
D) Eyewitness certainty is not a reliable indicator of accuracy.

Question 19

The outcome of the murder case against Thomas Sophonow was that:

A) Sophonow served the longest sentence of anyone ever wrongfully convicted in Canada.
B) Sophonow's case is still on appeal over the issues of the misidentification of eyewitnesses.
C) Sophonow spent four years in prison before his conviction was overturned.
D) The Supreme Court ruled that the lineup errors were not enough to overturn the conviction.

Question 20

Which statement about stress and identification is FALSE?

A) Important or arousing events may be vivid in memory but not necessarily accurate.
B) In a mock interrogation study, high stress was correlated with more accurate identifications.
C) Under stress, fear impedes the accurate coding of perception details.
D) Identifications may be compromised if a weapon is present because it detracts focus.

Question 21

Theorists argue that eyewitnesses may try to resolve the discomfort that comes with the risk of being wrong by convincing themselves that they are positively certain about the identification. Thus they relieve their:

A) cognitive dissonance.
B) decisive ambiguity.
C) vicarious recall.
D) oscillating surety .

Question 22

To date, what have the courts said about the use of expert testimony as they relate to the use of eyewitnesses in trial? Do you think these positions will change? Why or why not?

Question 23

The primary reason that judges in Canada have continued to deny expert testimony on eyewitness identification is that:

A) they feel that the time and cost of allowing access to experts for defendants would be prohibitive.
B) there is no widespread consensus that "experts" have the proper education and credentials.
C) they believe jurors know enough to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of eyewitness identifications.
D) prosecutors have lobbied successfully to keep such testimony out of trials.

Question 24

When the eyewitness is a child, the accuracy of information he or she can provide from a lineup or photograph spread is:

A) more accurate than an adult.
B) less accurate than an adult.
C) as accurate as an adult only if the suspect is actually presented.
D) more accurate under high stress, unlike adults.

Question 25

The two most common methods of selecting lineup members are _____ and _____.

A) similarity-to-suspect; description-matched
B) blind review; relative review
C) random selection; feature-controlled
D) uniform-trait; fragmented views

Question 26

Which is NOT one of the eyewitness guidelines recommended in 2001 in the Sophonow Inquiry?

A) The person conducting the lineup should not be aware of who the suspect is.
B) Witnesses should submit a confidence rating immediately after identification.
C) Simultaneous lineups should be used whenever possible as they are more effective.
D) Experts on eyewitness identification should be allowed to testify in court.

Question 27

The tendency for biased responses to distort the memory of eyewitnesses is known as:

A) tainted scripts.
B) unconscious transference.
C) post-identification feedback effect.
D) heuristics.

Question 28

Which is NOT one of the benefits of a cognitive interview?

A) It attempts to get accounts of the crime both from beginning to end and then from end to beginning.
B) It develops a degree of suggestibility that aids in the inclusion of details.
C) It seeks to relax the witness, build rapport with them and help them concentrate.
D) The subject is asked to view the crime from several different perspectives.

Question 29

Experts refer to the phenomenon of recalling only some aspects of a scene, which causes one to omit other aspects of that same scene, as:

A) selective amnesia.
B) retrieval inhibition.
C) recollection distribution.
D) fractured recall.

Question 30

Recommendations for improvements in eyewitness identification procedures to be used by all Canadian police agencies were developed in 2001 by:

A) The Psychology-Law Commission.
B) The Sophonow Inquiry.
C) The Mohn Justice Council.
D) The Canadian Eyewitness Evidence Panel.

Question 31

How are witness confidence and accuracy of recall related? What does the research say about these concepts?

Question 32

Researchers report that when mock witnesses were asked the estimated speed of two cars involved in an accident, responses decreased almost 16 km/h when the wording changed from _____to _____.

A) connected; collided
B) met; crashed
C) hit; bumped
D) smashed; contacted

Question 33

Explain the 2001 Guidelines suggested by the Sophonow Inquiry and whether they can realistically result in best practices for eyewitness accuracy.

Question 34

Discuss the guidelines for evaluating eyewitness testimony and ways they might be improved or updated.

Question 35

Which statement about the proper conduct of a lineup is FALSE?

A) There is uniformity between the U.S., Canada and England on the use of 11to12 fillers.
B) Fillers must strike a balance between not noticeably standing out and not looking too similar.
C) Blind lineup administrators protect against negative effects of post-identification feedback.
D) Absolute judgments produce better accuracy than relative judgments in identifications.

Question 36

Factors relative to a case that are out of the control of the justice system are referred to as:

A) proxy variables.
B) independent variables.
C) extraneous variable.
D) estimator variables.

Question 37

In a study of how eyewitness confidence can be manipulated, subjects were asked to identify a suspect in a murder at a Target store. Which is NOT one of the outcomes for those who were told they had chosen the right man?

A) They felt that they were easily able to make the identification.
B) They were aware that they had been swayed by the positive feedback.
C) They believed that they had a better view of the criminal.
D) They were certain they paid more attention to the crime.

Question 38

According to the text, what people generally see and remember is affected by what they expect to see. This tendency to maintain widely held beliefs about a sequence of expected behaviors is referred to as:

A) retrieval inhibition.
B) scripts.
C) meta-analysis.
D) unconscious transference.

Question 39

The reassignment of a face that is familiar from another context to the scene of a crime is referred to as:

A) retrieval inhibition.
B) script replacement. .
C) inter-race bias.
D) unconscious transference.

Question 40

What has research told us about how cross-racial identifications, stress and the presence of weapons influence eyewitness recall?