Alibis

Question 1

The person who supports/backs up an alibi (including the suspect themselves) is called the:

Answer 1

Alibi witness

(Can also be called the “corroborator”)

Question 2

Name any difference between eyewitness and alibi statements:

Answer 2

1) whether what they saw was important
2) whether they have a presumption of honesty
3) whether errors are attributed to faulty memory or guilt
4) whether evidence was elicited in a supportive environment
5) whether corroborative evidence is expected or not

Question 3

An alibi provided by someone who is telling the truth is:

Answer 3

A true alibi

Question 4

An alibi provided by someone that is false, either deliberately or mistakenly, is:

Answer 4

A false alibi

Question 5

Name the 2 types of false alibis:

Answer 5

Fabricated
Mistaken

Question 6

A false alibi is always given with the intention of misleading the interviewer. True or false?

Answer 6

False

(There are 2 types of false alibis: fabricated (as described in the example above) or mistaken. It is possible for the person providing the alibi to mix up the date or time they claimed to see the suspect, or simply misremember what happened.)

Question 7

Burke and colleagues (2007) theorised that the first domain to an alibi is generation and the second domain is:

Answer 7

Believability

Question 8

In Burke et al’s (2007) alibi model, the story phase and the validation phase belong to which domain?

Answer 8

The generation domain

Question 9

In Burke et al’s (2007) alibi model, the evaluation and ultimate evaluation phases belong to which domain?

Answer 9

The believability domain

Question 10

The evaluation and ultimate evaluation phases (Burke et al., 2007) differ in their determination of whether or not someone committed the crime. True or false?

Answer 10

True

(The evaluation phase is about believing the alibi; the ultimate evaluation phase is about believing whether the suspect is actually responsible for the crime. These are not identical because someone can believe an alibi while still thinking someone is guilty and vice versa.)

Question 11

General accounts of our common events (e.g. what time we get up every morning, or where we are likely to be at 4:45pm in the afternoon) are called:

Answer 11

Memory schemas

Question 12

Minor departures from routine tend to be forgotten, whereas major departures are often remembered. This phenomenon is known as:

Answer 12

The memory inconsistency effect

Question 13

In alibi generation, which phase involves remembering the crime?

Answer 13

Story phase

Question 14

In alibi generation, which phase involves backing up your account of a crime?

Answer 14

Validation phase

Question 15

In alibi believability, which phase involves deciding if an alibi is true or false?

Answer 15

Evaluation phase

Question 16

In alibi believability, which phase involves deciding if the suspect is guilty, based on alibis and other evidence?

Answer 16

Ultimate evaluation

Question 17

Close family and friends are examples of what type of alibi providers?

Answer 17

Motivated familiar others

(The MFO is unlikely to make a mistake when providing an alibi if they know the suspect well; however, this also makes them more motivated to lie, according to Burke et al (2007.))

Question 18

In the DU rape allegations case, the taxi driver who provided an alibi for one of the suspects is an example of what type of provider?

Answer 18

Non-motivated stranger

(Includes people we encounter regularly or have spent sufficient time with, such as our baristas, teachers, classmates or neighbours, who are less likely to lie on behalf of the suspect but are also less reliable. In this case, the taxi driver who provided the alibi may have been more believable, but it is unknown whether the suspect he claimed to pick up was actually him or someone who looked similar.)

Question 19

More physical evidence makes an alibi more or less believable?

Answer 19

More

Question 20

In findings from Olson & Wells (2004), physical evidence tends to be more reliable than person evidence as people evaluating alibis are more concerned about:

Answer 20

Motivation