Factors Affecting the Accuracy, Compliance and Confidence of Eyewitness Testimony Within the Criminal Justice System
Description
Eyewitness testimony is a compelling form of evidence that is heavily relied on within the Criminal Justice System. The following study focused on eyewitness testimony and understanding influential factors and the implications this can have on its reliability. This study aimed to explore the relationship between demographic information and personality and its impact on compliance, accuracy and confidence and the effects this has on eyewitness testimony. Using a sample of 174 participants, a multiple, ordinal and multinomial regression were conducted. The research methods include collecting demographic information which was followed by Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire Revised (164), the Gudjonsson Compliance Scale (1997), an identification video and a Likert scale measuring confidence. The results of this study found that females were more accurate in their testimonies and that personality influenced compliance levels. This has important implications for investigative procedures as it is important to recognise that males may produce less accurate testimonies and t that some personality types are more compliant than others. Policymakers should ensure this information is recognised and introduce measures to increase accuracy and reduce compliance levels. Future research should seek to utilise a different personality measure to discover the particular personality types that are more compliant than others so that this can be minimised.