Eyewitness Identification: An Examination of the Other Race Effect Nitu Kinzonzi, Talha S. Pasha, Colin B. Rochester, Brian W. Southard & Mary Alina Vettichira Department of Behavioral Sciences Faculty Mentor: Christopher W. Ortiz, Ph.D.

Eyewitness Identification one who sees an occurrence or an object; especially : one who gives a report on what he or she has seen A person who has seen someone or something and can bear witness to the fact. Eyewitnesses play a crucial role in criminal case processing Initial arrest Prosecution witnesses

Issues with Eyewitness Testimony Witness Project By the end of 2007, a total of 210 people were exonerated through the use of DNA evidence In three-quarters of these cases, eyewitness identification was the central piece of evidence Alton Logan Convicted of a Robbery/Homicide in 1982 based on the eyewitness testimony of three people On April 19, 2008, it was revealed that he was not the killer and he was set free

Eyewitness Accuracy Research has demonstrated that eyewitness accuracy varies significantly According to Behrman and Davey (2001), eyewitnesses were able to make a correct identification 48% of the time Several factors mediated accuracy Time between event and identification Presence of a weapon Victim versus witness status Cross-race identification

The Other Race Effect Research has demonstrated that eyewitnesses are less accurate when recalling a person of a different race Platz and Hosch (1988) reported finding a significant race effect among Anglo-Americans, black-Americans, and Mexican-Americans Behrman and Davey (2001) found that cross-race identifications were made in 45% of the cases, while same race identifications were made in 60% of the cases

The Present Study The study was designed to explore the accuracy of eyewitness identification Research questions How accurate are eyewitness identifications? Is there a cross-race effect?

Methodology

Methodology Two part method Staged scenario Survey Student actors entered targeted classes at the beginning of class and announced that they had found a backpack in the hallway Survey Approximately 15 minutes after the announcement, a student researcher administered a survey Students were asked to identify the student actor from a photo pack of six photos

Please identify the individual that walked into class with the lost item from the pictures below. 2 3 2 1 3 4 5 5 6

Please identify the individual that walked into class with the lost item from the pictures below. 2 3 1 5 4 5 6

Please identify the individual that walked into class with the lost item from the pictures below. 1 3 2 5 4 6

Survey In addition to identifying the student actor, subjects were asked several other questions Exclusion questions Do you know the actor? Have you ever seen the actor before? Perceptions of eyewitness identification Would you feel confident in your ability to be an eyewitness? Relative strength of eyewitness testimony

Sample The sample was representative of a typical college campus population This limited generalizability Sample Gender 52.9% Female 47.1% Male Class 25.9% Freshman 37.6% Sophomore 22.4% Junior 14.1% Senior Race/Ethnicity 49.4% White 9.3% African American

Analysis Two levels of analysis General analysis Overall reliability of eyewitness testimony General perceptions regarding eyewitness testimony Frequency analysis Other Race Effect analysis Is accuracy affected by subject/target racial differences Chi-square analysis ANOVA analysis

Results

General findings Overall, subjects proved highly capable of serving as accurate eyewitnesses 65% of the sample was able to select the correct actor from the photo pack 72% of the sample report that they would feel confident serving as an eyewitness if they had witnessed a crime Respondents rated eyewitness testimony as the weakest source of evidence in criminal case

Relative Strength of Evidence

Other Race Effect Analysis No evidence was found for the existence of the Other Race Effect Proximity of the event/identification relationship Approximately 15 minutes separated the event from the identification exercise Past projects have waited hours and even days before identification Benign nature of the event The event did not sufficiently simulate the stress and exigency of a real-life criminal event

Male Black/AA No significant differences observed Chi-Square = 3.17 (4), p=.529 Correct / Incorrect Whites 62% / 38% Black/AA 50% / 50% Hispanic 50% / 50% Asian/PI 62% / 38%

Male White No significant differences observed Chi-Square = 3.34 (4), p=.503 Correct / Incorrect Whites 71% / 29% Black/AA 100% / 0% Hispanic 50% / 50% Asian/PI 100% / 0%

Female Asian No significant differences observed Chi-Square = 5.67 (4), p=.225 Correct / Incorrect Whites 100% / 0% Black/AA 60% / 40% Hispanic 50% / 50% Asian/PI 0% / 100%

Conclusion Generally, people were confident that they could serve as eyewitnesses The sample was highly accurate in their eyewitness selections We did not find a cross-race effect This may have been the result of a small sample size