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Contribution to Book
Eyewitness Lineups: Identification from
Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science
  • Laura Smalarz, Williams College
  • Gary L. Wells, Iowa State University
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
1-1-2015
DOI
10.1002/9780470061589.fsa469.pub2
Abstract

The police lineup is a common tool for eyewitness identifications of suspects in criminal cases. Forensic DNA testing of people convicted by eyewitness identification evidence and field studies of police lineups, however, have revealed that mistaken identification from lineups is not uncommon. Controlled laboratory experiments have isolated numerous variables that contribute to mistaken identifications from lineups, some of which are controllable by the criminal justice system (e.g., various biases in the lineup or its procedure) and some of which are not controllable by the criminal justice system (e.g., witnessing conditions, stress).

Comments

This chapter was published as Smalarz, L., & Wells, G. L. (2015)," Eyewitness Lineups. In A. Jamieson and A.A. Moenssens (Eds.) Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science, John Wiley: Chichester. doi: 10.1002/9780470061589.fsa469.pub2. Posted with permission.

Copyright Owner
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Laura Smalarz and Gary L. Wells. "Eyewitness Lineups: Identification from" Wiley Encyclopedia of Forensic Science (2015)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/gary_wells/12/