Abstract
Two aspects of fairness in eyewitness identification lineups are discussed: the effective size of a lineup, and the degree of bias towards or away from the defendant. Procedures are proposed for measuring both aspects of lineup fairness and a range of hypothetical examples is given. An appendix discusses and explains procedural and computational details, and provides a table of critical ranges of identification proportions for lineups of varying sizes and for different numbers of observers.
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The author would like to express thanks to Alvin G. Goldstein for suggesting the appendix, and for comments on an early version of the manuscript. Thanks are also due Patricia G. Devine for helpful comments on many versions of the manuscript.
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Malpass, R.S. Effective size and defendant bias in eyewitness identification lineups. Law Hum Behav 5, 299–309 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01044945
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01044945