Abstract

Faulty witness identification can lead to the conviction of an innocent person. An effective method to reduce misidentification is using a lineup, a procedure in which the suspect is presented among “fillers” (non-suspects similar to the suspect). In an experiment, we compared the responses of eyewitnesses in lineups where fillers had moderate or high similarity to the suspect. Regardless of the degree of similarity, guilty suspects were identified more often than innocent suspects and fillers, and fillers were identified more often than innocent suspects. The similarity between fillers and suspect did not affect the probability of suspect recognition, whether the suspect was guilty or innocent. The results are discussed in the light of theories about the similarity effect of fillers, and implications for the Brazilian justice system.

Keywords:
testimony; psychology, memory; recognition, experimental psychology, crime