Viewing Composite Sketches: Lineups and Showups Compared

• Main Author: DEKLE, Dawn Jeanine
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2006
• Subjects: Composite sketches; suspect identification; Bali bombing; Washington sniper; Cognitive Psychology
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/96
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This study assesses the effect of high-and low-similarity composites on identification accuracy, using both lineups and showups. Participants witnessed a mock crime scene, viewed a composite of the perpetrator, then attempted an identification. The results indicate that witnesses are not overly influenced by low-similarity composites on subsequent identification accuracy. There was also no evidence that showups were less accurate identification procedures than lineups, across composition conditions. In fact, in perpetrator absent situations, showups were better identification procedures than lineups in terms of accuracy.