Valencia Elementary My Dear Watson: Criminal Identification: Which Is More Accurate, Simultaneous or Sequential Lineup?

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective of this science project was to determine the most accurate kind of criminal identification lineup, simultaneous or sequential lineup. Methods/Materials A crime scene video was shot in a third grade classroom at a different elementary school so that the suspects would be people that the students at my school would not recognize easily. After the completion of the video it was then shown to four different classrooms at my elementary school. Two fourth grade and two sixth grade classes participated. Each class watched the two minute video and were informed that they were now eyewitnesses to a crime. Three days later each class was shown a photo lineup. Two classes looked at a sequential lineup and two classes looked at a simultaneous lineup. Each student was called out individually and looked at photos. The simultaneous photos were taken with a Kodak camera and placed on construction paper, 5 photos to a page. Each page was then given to the test subject to examine, three sets of photos in all. The sequential photos were presented in a small 5 by 7 binder and each photo was individually placed in a sleeve. All answers were recordedin a notebook. Results After the data was analyzed the results indicated that simultaneous lineup was more accurate than the sequential lineup. 8 out of 49 test subjects identified the correct suspect when presented with the picture in the sequential lineup. 10 out of 49 test subjects identified the correct suspect when presented with the pictures in the simultaneous lineup. This experiment demonstrated that simultaneous lineup was more accurate in this case. Conclusions/Discussion The data collected does not support my original hypothesis that a sequential lineup would be the most accurate way to identify a crime suspect. 10 out of 49 test subjects correctly identified the criminal in the simultaneous lineup compared to 8 out of 49 test subjects identifying the suspect during the sequential lineup. Something I would do differently if I were to repeat this project would be to shorten the number of days between when I show the video and when the test subjects are presented the photos because maybe it isn't the way you present the photos to an eyewitness but how much time passes between the crime and the identification.

Competition history

• CSEF 2008 Cognitive Science (Junior Division Only) · Entry J0612

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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