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Description: The presence of a weapon during a crime can reduce the accuracy of eyewitness identification, known as the Weapon-Focus Effect (WFE). We hypothesized that the effect could be eliminated if the perpetrator has a distinctive feature on the face, based on research from the face processing literature. Participants (N = 600) watched a mock crime video from a first-person point-of-view in which a perpetrator appeared to assault them with either his fists or a beer bottle, or by pointing a shotgun at them. The perpetrator either had a distinctive feature (a large sports sticker) added to his face or not. After a few minutes spent on a distractor task, participants made an identification decision from a perpetrator-present or -absent simultaneous lineup. Overall, the probative value of a suspect identification was worst when the shotgun was present (replicating the WFE), but only if there was no distinctive feature. Adding the distinctive feature to the perpetrator's face reversed the WFE, both by increasing correct identification rate and decreasing false identification rate when the shotgun was present. This condition also yielded the highest confidence-accuracy correlation. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of perpetrator distinctiveness as an estimator variable in eyewitness identification research.
Suggested Citation:
Carlson, C.A., & Carlson, M.A. (2012). A Distinctiveness-Driven Reversal of the Weapon-Focus [Electronic Version]. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice,
8(1), 36-53.
Keywords: eyewitness identification, weapon focus, distinctiveness, distinctive feature
Date: Jul 16, 2012 | File Size: 593.39 Kb | Downloads: 2152