Abstract
Prior research has shown that primary confession evidence can alter eyewitnesses’ identifications and self-reported confidence. The present study investigated whether secondary confession evidence from a jailhouse informant could have the same effect. Participants (N = 368) watched a video of an armed robbery and made an identification decision from a photo lineup. Except for those in the no-feedback conditions, all participants then read that certain lineup members either confessed to the crime, denied involvement, or were implicated by a jailhouse informant. Jailhouse informant testimony implicating the identified lineup member led participants to have significantly higher confidence in their identification. In contrast, jailhouse informant testimony that implicated a lineup member other than the identified led participants to have significantly lower confidence in their initial identification, and 80% of these witnesses changed their identification. These results indicate that jailhouse informant testimony can influence eyewitnesses’ confidence and their identification decisions.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 375-384 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology |
Volume | 33 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2018 |
Keywords
- Eyewitness confidence
- Eyewitness identification
- Jailhouse informant
- Primary confession
- Secondary confession
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Applied Psychology
- Law