Key Research: Hall & Player - Does emotional context affect fingerprint analysis and decision making?

Question 1

What were the main aims of Hall and Player’s study?

Answer 1

• Does the written report of a crime affect a fingerprint experts identification of a poor quality print?
• Are fingerprint experts emotionally affected by the circumstances of a case?

Question 2

Outline the participants used in Hall and Player’s study.

Answer 2

• 70 fingerprint experts who work for the police
• Range of experience from less than 3 months to over 30 years
• All responded to a request to take part
• Details of experiment not disclosed

Question 3

Outline the materials used in this study. (£50 note)

Answer 3

• Fingerprint from known source scanned onto a $50 note
• Detail from note obscured part of print
• Made 14 prints - each participant for 1 of 14 prints to examine
• Each participant given access to crime scene examiner’s report

Question 4

What two conditions were participants allocated to?

Answer 4

• Condition 1 = Low Emotional Context (fingerprint expert given crime about forgery)
• Condition 2 = High Emotional Context (crime about murder)

Question 5

What were the participants given after they were allocated to a condition?

Answer 5

Given a £50 note with a superimposed fingerprint in the corner, and they were told to treat the task as part of their normal working day.

Question 6

What 4 things were the participants asked to identify the fingerprint as?

Answer 6

• A match
• Not a match
• Insufficient (not enough detail to undertake a comparison)
• Insufficient detail to establish identify

Question 7

What did the participants complete after they had analysed the fingerprints?

Answer 7

• They completed a feedback questionnaire which asked them if they’d referred to the crime scene information and if they had, which part.
• If they said yes, they were asked to say how this information affected their analysis and how.

Question 8

What were the main results of Hall and Player’s study?

Answer 8

• 57/70 read the report
• In low emotional context, 6% said report influenced their decision
• In high emotional context, 52% said report influenced their decision
• No significant difference between the conditions in terms of matching fingerprints

Question 9

What are the main conclusions of Hall and Player’s study?

Answer 9

-Experts may think crime scene reports affect their judgement, but it didn’t in this study, perhaps because they were so experienced