The Psychology of Person Identification

Originally published in 1978, the laws and procedures governing person identification parades, photofit pictures and the forms of questions asked to obtain a description, had been increasingly called into question. The problem had been highlighted by several well publicised court cases, and considered by the Devlin Committee. This book reviews the status of psychological knowledge at the time concerning the many aspects of person identification and scientifically evaluates the methods and procedures used. Contrary to the popular belief that identification is a simple affair, the authors use the theory and method of psychology to reveal the sources of the difficulties involved in recognising a once-seen person. Estimates of just how good a witness can be are drawn from laboratory studies using face photographs, from mock crime incidents, and from actual criminal cases, for reliability varies markedly in each of these three situations. Both an individual and a social perspective is