The Case of Mistaken Identity

Overview

Objectives/Goals The object of this project is to find the most accurate type of criminal identification lineup out of four total lineups. Methods/Materials I wrote a script for my crime video. Then I gathered the actors who would participate in my crime video. The crime video was filmed along with the four lineups. NOW ITS TESTING TIME! The test subjects consisted of: one seventh grade class and three eighth grade classes from Heritage Junior High. Each class viewed the same crime video. Two days later, they were called into the "Sheriff's Department". I passed out a 'Mistaken Identification' form to each student which would contain their vote on the real criminal. Each class viewed one of the four lineups which were: simultaneous, simultaneous/field, seequential, and sequential/field. Each student voted on who they thought the criminal was. I later tallied up the results and came to my conclusion. Results The simultaneous/field lineup, viewing the 6 suspects at the same time at the scene of the crime, was the most accurate lineup with a 66.66% accuracy rate. The simultaneous lineup, viewing all 6 suspects at the same at the Sheriff's Department, produced a low accuracy rate of 16.66%. The sequential lineup, viewing each of the 6 suspects individually, gave a 27.27% accuracy rate. The last lineup, sequential/field, viewing each of the 6 suspects indiviually at the scene of ths crime, produced a 23.8% accuracy rate. Conclusions/Discussion The simultaneous /field lineup was the most accurate in identifying the correct suspect as the perpetrator with a 66.66% accuracy rate. In contrast, the simultaneous lineup, which was viewed at the 'Sheriff's Department', produced a 16.66% rate of accuracy. Out of the four lineups, this was the least accurate. The lineup with the second highest accuracy rate was the sequential lineup, giving it a 27.27% rate of accuracy. The third most accurate lineup is the sequential/field lineup producing a 23.8% accuracy rate. The fourth place lineup, simultaneous lineup, viewing all 6 suspects at the same time at the 'Sheriff's Department', gave a 16.66% accuracy rate. This equals an 84.34% MISTAKEN IDENTITY RATE (100%-16.66%=84.34%)! If the simultaneous lineup is the most commonly used lineup in our criminal system, could 84.34% of criminals in prison, identified in a simultaneous lineup, be innocent?

Competition history

• CSEF 2003 Social Sciences (Junior Division Only) · Entry J1724

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Behavioural and Social Sciences projects
• CSEF Behavioural and Social Sciences projects
• Every CSEF 2003 project