Police Sketches: An Analysis of Witness Confidence, Accuracy, and Conviction Ratings

Researchers have sought to better understand the phenomenology that occurs with eyewitnesses and their recollection of a target when conducting identification processes. Without question, the effects of a sketch have become a part of the analytics in discerning the impact of the witnesses' conf...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of forensic identification 2022-10, Vol.72 (4), p.462-485
Main Author: Lang, Kenneth R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Confidence
Criminal investigations
Forensic sciences
Stress
Witnesses
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Summary:Researchers have sought to better understand the phenomenology that occurs with eyewitnesses and their recollection of a target when conducting identification processes. Without question, the effects of a sketch have become a part of the analytics in discerning the impact of the witnesses' confidence compared to their accuracy. Yet, there are insufficient studies involving actual police sketches from the field. Of particular interest in this study is how much of the existing research does not represent the reality of what transpires when a police sketch is conducted. Researchers admit the parameters in which their studies are completed are devoid of the actualities from real cases. For example, because participants are in a controlled environment, the case lacks stressors that often accompany the victims and witnesses of crimes who are providing characteristics to generate a sketch. Furthermore, the processes of generating a sketch are not equitable to that of actual investigations. I served as a forensic artist from 2000 to 2013. In this study, I codified the data from my forensic art logbook, conducted a linear regression analysis (ANOVA and ANCOVA) of confidence and accuracy ratings of the sketches, and analyzed the information to the conviction ratings in each case. The analysis revealed that in comparing findings between a larger and smaller group of witnesses' confidence and accuracy ratings, no correlation was found. However, when examining cases using composite sketches and being adjudicated in court, the lower accuracy ratings had no impact on the conviction rating.
ISSN:0895-173X