Abstract
A show-up is an identification procedure that only presents the witness with one suspect in contrast to a lineup where the suspect is presented among a number of fillers (i.e., known innocent people). This feature makes the show-up procedure very suggestive. In this literature review, an overview of the current research about this identification procedure is presented. The different factors that influence the accuracy in show-up procedures are separated into system (e.g., clothing bias, instruction bias, and the impact of multiple show-ups) and estimator variables (e.g., age, cross-race effects, and alcohol) in line with Wells [1]. The implications of the research are discussed together with suggestions for future research.
Highlights
When a witness is asked to identify a person that has committed a crime, police may use a lineup procedure where the suspect is placed among a number of fillers and asked to select the person that best matches his or her description of the perpetrator
A recent study finds that show-ups are used by both American and Canadian police officers and that they are most common among the American police officers [3]
While the research about the weapon focus is large when it comes to lineups, studies using show-ups is greatly missing from the literature
Summary
When a witness is asked to identify a person that has committed a crime, police may use a lineup procedure where the suspect is placed among a number of fillers (known innocent people) and asked to select the person that best matches his or her description of the perpetrator. When police are presenting a show-up to a witness, two different results are possible [6]: the witness can make a correct identification or an incorrect rejection (if the show-up contains the perpetrator) or the witness can make a correct rejection or a false identification (if the show-up does not contain the perpetrator) This obviously makes the show-up procedure very suggestive since the identity of the suspect is known to the witness throughout the entire procedure [3]. Statements like these make it painfully clear that the suggestiveness of the show-up procedure can be very high and that police occasionally make it even more suggestive (probably unintentionally) This is something that, which we will see, affects the probability of witnesses identifying innocent suspects. It is impossible to conduct a double-blind show-up
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