Looking Criminal Could Get You Arrested

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Mental Health
Article Date: 24 Jun 2009 - 7:00 PDT

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Weak eye-witnesses pick the most criminal looking faces in identity parades. This is one of the findings of Heather Flowe and colleagues from the University of Leicester who will present their research at the British Psychological Society Division of Forensic Psychology Annual Conference today, Wednesday 24th June 2009. The conference is being held the University of Central Lancashire, Preston.

A stereotypically criminal appearance is described as someone who looks like they would break the law - a face you wouldn't trust. This research investigated whether eye-witnesses were influenced by stereotypical criminal faces when faced with an identity parade.

The 48 participants were split in two groups, one group were given a description of the perpetrator and the other group were not. Both groups viewed real identity parade photos for theft, robbery and assault and were asked to select the perpetrator and give their reason for the selection.

84 per cent those participants with no description stated they picked someone because he looked like a criminal:

"Looks like the hicks from my hometown that always got away with beating their wives." "His eyes give me the heebee-jeebees."

Interestingly 52 per cent of those with a description also stated they were influenced by the suspect's criminal appearance.

Heather explained: 'Criminal stereotypes can affect decisions made by actual witnesses, in particular, weak witnesses who do not have strong memories for the perpetrator. In this experiment the participants who didn't have a description fell on stereotyped conceptions of what a perpetrator ought to look like.

This could have serious implications if police, either consciously or inadvertently, build an identity parade in which the suspect is the most criminal looking. A weak witness who felt compelled to pick somebody may pick the suspect simply because he's the most criminal looking person, not because he matches their memory'

The conference is being held at the University of Central Lancashire from the 23rd to 25th July.

Source
British Psychological Society