The Effect of Post-Identification Feedback on Eyewitness Identification Confidence and Accuracy

Abstract

Safe Cities Index Survey 2015 placed Jakarta as the least safe city in the world, indicating high level of criminality. The increasing number of criminality in Jakarta makes it more likely for citizens to become victims or witnesses of a crime. However, eyewitness testimony may be distorted by post-identification feedback. This study aims to examine the effects of post-identification feedback on eyewitness identification confidence and accuracy using target-absent lineups and unbiased witness instructions. This study used randomized one-way ANOVA design. The participants were 60 high school students in Jakarta, aged 14 to 18 years old, who were randomized into three treatment groups (confirming feedback group, disconfirming feedback group, and no feedback group). Eyewitness identification confidence was measured using a 13-item General Eyewitness Identification questionnaire by Wells and Bradfield (1998), while accuracy was measured from the witness’ choice of identification of the culprit. Kruskal-Wallis test results showed significant differences in confidence scores among the three groups only in the aspects of certainty, ease, view, details, and process of identification. No significant difference in proportion was found among the groups with regard to accuracy.

Keywords—accuracy, confidence, eyewitness, post-identification feedback