Digital Detectives: Websleuthing Reduces Eyewitness Identification Accuracy in Police Lineups.

Camilla Elphick,Bashar Nuseibeh,Arosha K Bandara,Richard Philpot,Lara A Frumkin,Ailsa Strathie,Min Zhang,Avelie Stuart,Mark Levine,Blaine A Price,Zoe Walkington,Graham Pike,Catriona Havard

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.640513

Camilla Elphick, Bashar Nuseibeh + Show 11 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.640513

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Abstract

Eyewitnesses to crimes sometimes search for a culprit on social media before viewing a police lineup, but it is not known whether this affects subsequent lineup identification accuracy. The present online study was conducted to address this. Two hundred and eighty-five participants viewed a mock crime video, and after a 15–20 min delay either (i) viewed a mock social media site including the culprit, (ii) viewed a mock social media site including a lookalike, or (iii) completed a filler task. A week later, participants made an identification from a photo lineup. It was predicted that searching for a culprit on social media containing the lookalike (rather than the culprit) would reduce lineup identification accuracy. There was a significant association between social media exposure and lineup accuracy for the Target Present lineup (30% more of the participants who saw the lookalike on social media failed to positively identify the culprit than participants in the other conditions), but for the Target Absent lineup (which also included the lookalike) there was no significant association with lineup identification accuracy. The results suggest that if an eyewitness sees a lookalike (where they are expecting to see the culprit) when conducting a self-directed search on social media, they are less likely to subsequently identify the culprit in the formal ID procedure.

Highlights

Camilla Elphick 1*, Richard Philpot 2, Min Zhang 3, Avelie Stuart 4, Graham Pike 1, Ailsa Strathie 1, Catriona Havard 1, Zoe Walkington 1, Lara A
There was a significant association between social media exposure and lineup accuracy for the Target Present lineup (30% more of the participants who saw the lookalike on social media failed to positively identify the culprit than participants in the other conditions), but for the Target Absent lineup there was no significant association with lineup identification accuracy
The present study provides evidence that searching for a culprit on social media can negatively affect identification accuracy in the culprit (TP) lineups

Summary

Introduction

Camilla Elphick 1*, Richard Philpot 2, Min Zhang 3, Avelie Stuart 4, Graham Pike 1, Ailsa Strathie 1, Catriona Havard 1, Zoe Walkington 1, Lara A. Eyewitnesses to crimes sometimes search for a culprit on social media before viewing a police lineup, but it is not known whether this affects subsequent lineup identification accuracy. It was predicted that searching for a culprit on social media containing the lookalike (rather than the culprit) would reduce lineup identification accuracy. The results suggest that if an eyewitness sees a lookalike (where they are expecting to see the culprit) when conducting a self-directed search on social media, they are less likely to subsequently identify the culprit in the formal ID procedure. In a survey of police officers in the US (NCJRS, 2013), 80.4% responded that social media had helped to solve crimes, while Kim et al (2017) found that 89% of participants from Law Enforcement agencies claimed to use social media for disseminating information, and 58% had contacted social media companies for evidence. Following interviews of police investigators in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, Rønn et al (2020) concluded that social media should be part of investigative police work, as it provides information that is not available in police files

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