False Positive Identification

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a simulation of an identification parade using recommended procedures. The parade was held three days after subjects had been incidental observers of a man in a waiting room. The Parade included ‘a suspect’ who was not the man Previously seen. Of the 68 subjects, 21 made a false Positive identification on the parade, including 6 who made an identification with a high level of certainty. All these 6 high certainty identifications were of ‘the suspect’. A group of subjects also saw a set of photographs prior to the parade. The findings suggest that, When the man previously seen was not included, subjects were more likely to make a false positive identification on photographs than on a parade. In addition, subjects who had seen the photographs Wade a significantly greater proportion of false positive identifications on the subsequent parade.