Subjective Assessment of Blunt Impacts

An important role of an eyewitness to an assault is to effectively quantify the degree of force used; yet evidence of this form is often subjective and relies on personal opinion. Twelve subjects were asked to strike a load cell with a wooden bat, using varying degrees of force. The strikes were rec...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medicine, science, and the law science, and the law, 2000-07, Vol.40 (3), p.263-269
Main Authors: Wheeler, Lucy K, Maylia, Eric, Jones, Michael D, Holt, Cathy A, Evans, Sam L, Nokes, Leonard DM
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Female
Humans
Judgment
Male
Reproducibility of Results
Truth Disclosure
Videotape Recording
Violence - legislation & jurisprudence
Wales
Wounds, Nonpenetrating
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:An important role of an eyewitness to an assault is to effectively quantify the degree of force used; yet evidence of this form is often subjective and relies on personal opinion. Twelve subjects were asked to strike a load cell with a wooden bat, using varying degrees of force. The strikes were recorded by video camera and 50 people observed the video and were asked to grade the strikes. On average 44% accurately assessed the severity of the strikes, whilst 26% over-estimated. Results suggest that the evidence of eyewitnesses should be treated with caution.
ISSN:0025-8024
2042-1818
DOI:10.1177/002580240004000313