Week 12 - Law Flashcards

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1
Q

Ground truth

A

the actual facts of the witnessed event

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2
Q

System Variables

A

Under the control of criminal justice system (e.g lineup)

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3
Q

Estimator Variables

A

Not under control of crim. justice system. (e.g race of perp. vs victim)

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4
Q

Benefits of lab studies in EW research

A
  • control over both system and estimator variables
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5
Q

DVs in EW research

A

1) Can the witness correctly recall the event/crime 2) can the witness correctly recall the perp. 3) Can the witness recognise the perp - Administration of lineup

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6
Q

Two ways recall in EW

A

Open ended question or direct question

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7
Q

Biggest problem with the way police questioning (Fisher 1987)

A

Leading/suggestive questions

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8
Q

Misinformation Effect

A
  • Witness presented with inaccurate information which is incorporated into recall of original memory
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9
Q

What did Loftus and Palmer (1974) find re: misinformation effect

A

The choice of word affected recall (i.e smash - faster, contacted or bumped - slower) - smashed = ‘broken glass’ yes - no broken glass in any condition.

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10
Q

Memory Impairment Hypothesis

A

Post-event information corrupts the original memory. - original memory lost and replaced by revision

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11
Q

Source misattribution hypothesis

A

more support for this hyp - Original memory still exists - people confused about source of post-even information

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12
Q

How does misinformation become incorporated

A
  • co-witness discussion

- police officer questioning (such as incorrect assumption)

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13
Q

average adoption rate of false memories in Loftus’ studies

A

25 %

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14
Q

False-ID

A

IDing the suspect in a target-absent lineup

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15
Q

Why do police prefer a photo lineup? (6)

A
  • Easier to construct
  • Portable
  • No suspect right to counsel
  • Static (suspects behaviour can’t invalidate lineup)
  • Witness less anxious
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16
Q

Simultaneous photo lineup

A

Creates a relative judgement - possible suspects are compared to each other and choose one that looks most like culprit

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17
Q

Sequential photo lineup

A
  • absolute judgement

- compare photo to memory of culprit

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18
Q

Target absent study (Lindsay & Wells 1985) simultaneous vs sequential - which produced more correct rejections?

A
  • Sequential (67%) vs simultaneous (42%)
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19
Q

Lineup bias

A

subtle directions to witness to choose suspect

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20
Q

Foil bias

A
  • Foils do not match witness’ description of culprit - suspect does
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21
Q

Clothing Bias

A
  • Foils not wearing clothing similar to witness’ description - suspect is
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22
Q

Instruction bias

A

-

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23
Q

Does confidence indicate accuracy?

A

Cutler & Penrod (1989) found a small pos. correlation. The relationship is malleable - some factors increase confidence without increasing accuracy

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24
Q

What is the recommendation re: confidence ratings?

A

To get the rating immediately after the identification decision

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25
Q

Estimator variables affecting accuracy

A
  • Race

- Weapons focus

26
Q

Cross Race Effect

A

Witnesses remember faces of own race more accurately

27
Q

Possible Reasons for Cross Race Effect?

A
  • Attitude - more prejudicial people think they all look the same (research does not support)
  • Interracial contact - more contact with other race makes you better able to distinguish between members
28
Q

Weapon Focus

A

When weapon used, recognition of offender worsens

Steblay, 1992

29
Q

Possible reasons for weapons focus?

A

Cue utilisation / unusualness

30
Q

Cue utilisation hyp

A

Easterbrook (1959) - attention capacity decreases, weapon becomes the central detail

31
Q

Unusualness

A
  • Pickel (1999)
  • gun expected, memory for details ok
  • Gun unusual - memory for other details suffers
32
Q

Difference between liars and non-liars

A

Verbal differences

33
Q

How well are we able to detect deception?

A

Around chance level (50%)

34
Q

Reasons for inability to detect deception?

A

Lack of overlap between objective and subjective cues

- Truth bias (we assume that people are telling the truth)

35
Q

Summarise the acquisition stage of eyewitness testimony & how this stage is susceptible to errors caused by… (5)

A

Arousal - In a study that illustrates the debilitating effects of stress, Charles Morgan and others (2004) randomly assigned trainees in a military survival school to undergo a realistic high-stress or low-stress mock interrogation. Twenty-four hours later, he found that those in the high-stress condition had difficulty identifying their interrogators in a lineup.

Weapons Effect -
Alcohol/drugs-
Own race bias - The tendency for people to be more accurate at recognizing members of their own racial group than of other groups.
Own age bias-

36
Q

Summarise the storage stage of eyewitness testimony & how this stage is susceptible to errors caused by…

A

Time - memory for faces and events tends to decline with the passage of time
Misinformation effect -

37
Q

Summarise the retrieval stage of eyewitness testimony & how this stage is susceptible to errors caused by…

A

lineup procedures, leading questioning techniques

38
Q

Describe a polygraph

A

A mechanical instrument that records physiological arousal from multiple channels; it is often used as a lie-detector test.

39
Q

identify the assumptions and potential problems underlying the use of a polygraph

A

the assumption that when people lie, they become anxious and physiologically aroused in ways that can be measured

Potential problems: truthful persons too often fail the test. A second problem is that people who understand the test can fake the results.
inflating the responses to “innocent” questions, one can mask the stress that is aroused by lying on the crime-relevant questions

40
Q

Describe the approaches used by police to extract confessions from suspects (internalisation and compliance)

A
  • interrogation two approaches
    One approach is to pressure the suspect into submission by expressing certainty in his or her guilt

A second approach is to befriend the suspect

41
Q

identify the conditions under which people are most likely to internalise false confessions.

A

In short, innocent people who are vulnerable to suggestion can be induced to confess and to internalize guilt by the presentation of false evidence

42
Q

the difficulties that juries face when they try to evaluate a confession introduced into evidence at trial.

A
  • the influence of media

- misunderstanding judges instructions

43
Q

the general effects of pretrial publicity on juror’s perceptions of defendants…

A

Public opinion surveys consistently show that the more people know about a case, the more likely they are to presume the defendant guilty, even when they claim to be impartial ( Kovera, 2002; Moran & Cutler, 1991).

44
Q

The general effects of inadmissable evidence on juror’s perceptions of defendants…

A

When judge tells jurors to ignore inadmissable evidence they are more likely to use it

45
Q

Identify the factors that contribute to the finding that judges’ instructions often have
little impact on jurors.

A
  • Jurors might not even understand the instructions

- jury nullification

46
Q

leniency bias

A

The tendency for jury deliberation to produce a tilt toward acquittal.

47
Q

Describe the jury deliberation process (3 stages)

A

Orientation: set an agenda, talk in open-ended terms, raise questions, and explore the facts

Open conflict: more argumentative, scrutinising evidence - verdict or declare hung jury

Reconciliation: smooth everything over

48
Q

the importance of a jury’s first vote

A

majorities on the first vote tend to reflect the final decision

49
Q

informational and

normative influences on jury deliberation

A

Informational : Influence that produces conformity when a person believes others are correct in their judgments.

Normative: Influence that produces conformity when a person fears the negative social consequences of appearing deviant.

50
Q

jury size influences on jury deliberation

A

The six size jury means a dissenter is more likely to side with the majority (normative influence)

51
Q

unanimous rule influence on jury deliberation

A
  • bullying during deliberation in non-unanimous
52
Q

sentencing disparity, and why it occurs

A

Inconsistency of sentences for the same offense from one judge to another.

  • race differences
  • individual differences
53
Q

factors that may affect a convict’s

experience in prison.

A
  • the power relationship between guards and prisoners
54
Q

Decision control and the effect on perceptions of justice.

A

whether a procedure affords the involved parties the power to accept, reject, or otherwise influence the final decision

55
Q

Process control and the effect on perceptions of justice.

A

whether it offers the parties an opportunity to present their case to a third-party decision maker

people value the chance to present their side of a story to an impartial decision maker even when they do not prevail in the ultimate outcome

56
Q

the adversarial model of justice

A

A dispute-resolution system in which the prosecution and defense present opposing sides of the story

57
Q

the inquisitorial model of justice

A

A dispute-resolution system in which a neutral investigator gathers evidence from both sides and presents the findings in court.

58
Q

the role of culture in studying

issues related to law and justice.

A

judges and juries are sometimes asked to consider cultural defenses in their decision making

the most notable cultural difference concerns the death penalty. majority cultures don’t engage in death penalty.

59
Q

internalisation

A

internally believing the false confession

60
Q

compliance

A

confessing to escape a stressful situation