Abstract
The effects of age of witness and age of suspect on eyewitness testimony were investigated. Forty-eight elementary school children and 48 college students viewed a slide sequence of a mock crime. This was followed by target-present or target-absent photo identification with a no-choice option, central and peripheral questions related to the crime, and a second photo identification. In photo identification, child witnesses had a higher rate of choosing than adult witnesses, suggesting that children have more lax criteria of responding. The accuracy data showed similar levels of sensitivity across ages although there was a trend toward reduced accuracy of child witnesses in target-absent lineups. All witnesses made more total choices and more correct rejections with child-suspect lineups than adult-suspect lineups. Central questions were answered better than peripheral questions by both age groups, but adults made significantly more “don't know” choices.
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The authors wish to thank Patricia Frost, principal of West Laboratory School, Miami, for her generous assistance in providing subjects. We also thank Joan Erber and Ronald Fisher for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.
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Parker, J.F., Carranza, L.E. Eyewitness testimony of children in target-present and target-absent lineups. Law Hum Behav 13, 133–149 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01055920
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01055920