Browsing by Person "Melsom, Elisabeth I."
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Examining how lineup practices of Canadian and U.S. police officers adhere to their national best practice recommendations(2018-11-25) Bertrand, Michelle I.; Lindsay, R. C. L.; Mansour, Jamal K.; Beaudry, Jennifer L.; Kalmet, Natalie; Melsom, Elisabeth I.Canadian (N = 117) and U.S. (N = 167) police officers completed a survey about their lineup construction and administration practices. We compared their responses to national policy recommendations in both countries, which had five similar and four different recommendations. We expected that if officers' lineup procedures corresponded with policy recommendations, the countries would have similar procedures when recommendations were similar, but different procedures in line with their respective policies when recommendations were different. We generally found the predicted pattern of results. Findings were especially striking when the policies differed. Some procedures were largely in line with policy recommendations (e.g., double-blind testing), others corresponded to some extent (e.g., sequential lineups), and others were largely not followed (e.g., providing instruction that it is as important to exonerate the innocent as it is to convict the guilty). We cautiously interpret these findings as demonstrating that policy has some influence on procedures. However, even though our hypotheses were generally supported, there was considerable variation in procedures that did not correspond with policy recommendations. Our findings illustrate the importance of assessing user reactions to policy recommendations and examining barriers to policy implementation.Item Impact of disguise on identification decisions and confidence with simultaneous and sequential lineups(American Psychology-Law Society - APA Division 41, 2020-12) Mansour, Jamal K.; Beaudry, Jennifer L.; Bertrand, Michelle I.; Kalmet, Natalie; Melsom, Elisabeth I.; Lindsay, Roderick C. L.Objective: Prior research indicates disguise negatively affects lineup identifications but the mechanisms by which disguise works have not been explored and different disguises have not been compared. We investigated how two different types of disguise, four levels of varying degrees of coverage, and lineup type influence eyewitnesses' identification decisions, accuracy, and confidence. Hypotheses: We predicted that identification accuracy would decrease as the disguise covered more of a perpetrator's face. We also predicted that type of disguise–stocking mask versus sunglasses and/or toque (i.e., knitted hat)–would influence identifications, but we had conflicting predictions about which disguise would impair their performance more. Method: In two experiments (Ns = 87 and 91) we manipulated degree of coverage by two different types of disguise: a stocking mask or sunglasses and toque. Participants viewed mock-crime videos followed by simultaneous or sequential lineups. Results and Conclusions: Disguise and lineup type did not interact. In support of the view that disguise prevents encoding, identification accuracy generally decreased with degree of disguise. For the stocking disguise, however, full and 2/3 coverage led to approximately the same rate of correct identifications—which suggests that disrupting encoding of specific features may be as detrimental as disrupting a whole face. Accuracy was most affected by sunglasses and we discuss the role meta-cognitions may have played. Lineup selections decreased more slowly than accuracy as coverage by disguise increased, indicating witnesses are insensitive to the effect of encoding conditions on accuracy.