The field view is an identification procedure that was recently acknowledged in a national report assessing eyewitness identifications. However, the field view has not been empirically examined to date. In fact, very little is known regarding the effectiveness of the procedure. Because it is an exploratory procedure - used by police when they do not have a suspect in mind - it is important to determine how the field view fares in comparison to the traditional procedures such as lineups and showups, whereby police do have a suspect. Using a controlled, lab-based methodology, Study 1 examined correct and false identifications elicited from the field view procedure and whether filler similarity affects identification accuracy. Results revealed that the exploratory field view can be a harmful procedure, particularly when the perpetrator is not present in the location, as it produced significantly more false identifications (36%) than both the lineup (13%) and showup (5%) procedures. The reason for this alarmingly high rate of mistaken identifications is that in an exploratory procedure, there is not an a priori suspect, and thus, nobody in the location is known to be innocent, as fillers are in a lineup. Because of this, anyone identified would come under suspicion. A second study further examined whether the field view may be an acceptable identification procedure under a different circumstance, namely, when police do have a suspect. Study 2 used a more ecologically valid methodology to examine the hypothesis that this confirmatory field view procedure may fare superior to the showup under the condition that the field view is administered by someone who is blind to the identity of the suspect. Contrary to our predictions, however, all three procedures (i.e., field view with non-blind administration; field view with blind administration; showup) produced comparable correct and false identification rates. Overall, results indicate that a field view may be a viable procedure when it is used as a confirmatory procedure and includes fillers similar to the suspect. More research is needed to determine under what conditions exploratory procedures may be acceptable.

Malgré les avancées considérables dans l’analyse des preuves matérielles, et le développement ces dernières années de la police scientifique, les témoignages oculaires occupent encore aujourd’hui un rôle primordial dans les décisions de justice. Et pourtant, ces témoignages sont faillibles. En effet, de nombreux facteurs se trouvant au croisement de processus mnésiques et/ou cognitifs et de processus sociaux et/ou sociocognitifs, peuvent les impacter de façon irréversible. C’est dans ce contexte, et dans le but de mieux comprendre certaines variables à l’origine de leur fragilité, que nous avons réalisé les sept expérimentations présentées dans cette thèse.De façon plus précise, les trois premières études s’intéressaient à une technique d’audition efficace, appelée l’entretien cognitif. Notre objectif était alors de développer et d’évaluer, en laboratoire et sur le terrain, un protocole modifié d’entretien cognitif fondé sur le principe de multiplication des rappels libres. Toutefois, dans cette thèse, nous souhaitions adopter une approche plus dynamique et situationnelle de l’entretien cognitif que celle rencontrée jusqu’à présent dans la littérature. C’est pourquoi, dans une seconde partie, nous avons examiné l’efficacité de ce protocole en lien avec trois variables évaluatrices indissociables des situations d’auditions, et pouvant dans les faits impacter fortement et négativement la qualité des témoignages oculaires. Ces trois variables sont: (a) les scripts que partagent les individus à propos des évènements criminels, (b) les discussions entre témoins, et, (c) les stéréotypes associés aux témoins par le biais de leursappartenances groupales.Plusieurs résultats ont alors été montrés. Tout d’abord, nous avons confirmé l’efficacité d’une version modifiée d’entretien cognitif (ECM). Plus précisément, un protocole composé de deux rappels libres, incluant les consignes d’exhaustivité et de remise en contexte ainsi qu’une nouvelle technique destinée à favoriser le souvenir, la focalisation périphérique guidée, a permis d’améliorer, dans toutes nos études, la richesse du rappel des participants sans nuire à son exactitude. Son efficacité a d’ailleurs été montrée aussi bien en laboratoire que sur le terrain. De plus, ce protocole intègre les consignes cognitives les plus efficaces et omet les moins effectives. Parallèlement, nous avons confirmé l’impact néfaste des scripts et des discussions entre témoins sur les témoignages oculaires. Certains effets des stéréotypes liés à l’appartenance groupale du témoin ont aussi été suggérés. Enfin, concernant l’efficacité de l’entretien cognitif, et plus précisément de la versionmodifiée, certains effets délétères de ce protocole et des consignes qui le composent ont été observés en lien avec les trois variables évaluatrices considérées. Toutefois, plusieurs bénéfices intéressants ont également été révélés dans ce cadre.Ces résultats seront discutés au regard des données disponibles dans la littérature à ce jour. Des recommandations appliquées seront également émises. / Despite many advances in analyzing physical evidence, and the development these past years of the forensic police, eyewitnesses’ testimonies remains decisive in the decisions of justice. Nevertheless, these testimonies are fallible. Numerous factors, at the crossroad of memory and/or cognitive processes and of social and/or sociocognitive processes, can impact them in an irreversible manner. In this context, we realized the seven experimentations presented in this dissertation. The aim was to understand better some variables responsible for the fragility of eyewitnesses’ accounts.More precisely, the first three studies presented in the first part of this work were dealing with an effective technique for interviewing eyewitnesses, called the Cognitive Interview. Our purpose was to develop and evaluate, in the lab and in the field, a modified version of Cognitive Interview, based on the principle of multiplication of the free recalls. However, in this dissertation, we chose to adopt a more dynamic and situational approach that the one encountered in the literature until now. Therefore, in a second part, we examined the efficacy of this protocol in interaction with three estimator variables, inseparable from the context of hearing witnesses, and which can in the real life strongly and negatively impact the quality of their accounts. These variables are: (a) the scripts shared by individuals about criminal events, (b) the talk between witnesses, and, (c) the stereotypes associated with witnesses through the social groups they belong to.Several results were shown. First, we confirmed the efficacy of a modified version of the Cognitive Interview (MCI). More precisely, a protocol composed of two free recallattempts, composed of the report all and the context reinstatement instructions, as well as a new technique designed to enhance memories, the guided peripheral focus, increased in all the studies the richness of participants’ recalls without impairing their accuracy. Its efficacy was shown in the lab and in the field. Moreover, this protocol includes the most effective cognitive instructions and omits the less beneficial. Then, in the second part, we confirmed that the scripts and the talk among witnesses have a detrimental impact on eyewitnesses’ testimonies. Some effects of the stereotypes linked to the group membership of the witness were also suggested. Finally, concerning the efficacy of the Cognitive Interview, and more precisely the modified protocol, some negative effects were observed in interaction with the three estimator variables considered. However, some interesting benefits of this protocol and of the cognitive instructions it includes were also shown.These results will be discussed in regards with the literature available today. Some applied recommendations will also be emitted.

Abstract (Svenska) Den här undersökningen försöker ta reda på om orsaken till att människor bättre minns ansikten av sin egen etnicitet än ansikten med annan etnisk bakgrund ligger i mer holistisk än analytisk inkodning. Det testades även om kända och okända ansikten inkodas holistiskt eller analytiskt. Sammanlagt 51 personer deltog i undersökningen. Hälften av stimulusmaterialet var ljushyade (amerikaner av europeiskt ursprung) och hälften var mörkhyade (amerikaner av afrikanskt ursprung). 1/3 av stimulusmaterialet var bilder av mörka och ljusa kända personer. Uppgiften var att försöka känna igen bilderna då de visades på nytt med en förvrängning som skulle gynna antingen holistisk eller analytisk bearbetning. Resultaten visade att kända ansikten inkodades bättre än okända, och att skillnaden var större för holistisk än analytisk bearbetning. Skillnaden mellan ljusa och mörka ansikten gick i samma riktning, men var inte signifikant. / Abstract (English) The purpose of this study was to examine if the reason for Own Race Bias (ORB) – The fact that humans remember faces of their own ethnicity better than faces with another ethnic background/history – lies in the encoding mechanism. It also examined if celebrity faces were more holistically, and non-celebrity faces more analytically, encoded. Half of the stimulus material consisted of Caucasian Americans, and the other half of African Americans. One third of the faces belonged to celebrities. The task for the 51 participants was to recognize the faces. The results showed that celebrity faces were more often recognized than non-celebrity faces, and the difference was greater in holistic processing than in analytic. The difference between Caucasian and African faces showed the same tendency, but was not significant.

Eyewitness identification is being researched for many years prior. However, research on eyewitness identifiaction was mostly conducted with crimes that involved only one perpetrator. For this reason, the present thesis focuses on eyewitness identification for a multiple perpetrator crime. The literature review summarises current knowledge regarding each aspect of recognition and tries to bring insight into the problem of recognition for multiple perpetrator crimes. For the empirical part of this thesis, an experiment was conducted, which aimed to compare simultaneous and sequential line-up identification accuracy. The experiment was changed from live to on-line enviroment due to the pandemic situation. The experiment was conducted on 151 young adult participants. Participants viewed a mock crime video recording involving a perpetrator and his accomplice. Participants were then randomly assigned two simultaneous or sequential line-ups and a target-present or target-absent condition. A week after viewing the video recording, each participant tried to identify the perpetrator and the accomplice in the assigned condition. Results indicated no statistically significant difference between simultaneous and sequential line-up identification. Discussion tries to explain possible influence of changing the...

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This study investigates the use of personal description as an investigation technique to identify suspects. The study entails qualitative data obtained from interviews with investigators, literature, as well as case studies. The study found that personal description can be used as an investigation technique to identify suspects. There are eight techniques that the investigator should apply in order to identify suspects or perpetrators of a criminal act. To conduct effective investigation, it is important for the criminal investigators to be familiar with the techniques of identification and the application thereof. The description of offenders plays an important role as far as arresting offenders is concerned. The methods used - or to be used - by investigators to describe a person were also discussed. It is important that the investigators should work with other government departments, private investigators and security officials, to implement this technique in order to identify and arrest offenders. / Police Practice / (M. Tech (Forensic Investigation))

Le témoignage oculaire est un élément fondamental de la résolution des enquêtes criminelles. Pour la bonne conduite des enquêtes judiciaires, il apparait primordial d’obtenir des témoignages exhaustifs et exacts. C'est ainsi qu’une équipe de recherche a conçu une méthode basée sur les principes du fonctionnement de la mémoire ayant pour but l’optimisation du recueil des propos du témoin : l’entretien cognitif (Geiselman et al. 1984). Si cette méthode permet d’obtenir des descriptions détaillées sans diminution de la qualité du témoignage, elle est néanmoins marginalement utilisée par les professionnels de la justice. L’objectif de cette thèse est double : il s’agit de proposer une consigne d’entretien qui prend en compte les processus psychologiques en œuvre dans le rappel d’un évènement en mémoire épisodique, et qui soit acceptable du point de vue des pratiques professionnelles. Une première étape a consisté en l’analyse des pratiques professionnelles. L’évaluation d’une formation à l’entretien cognitif auprès d’enquêteurs de police a montré que la méthode est facilement assimilable par les enquêteurs, suggérant que sa non-application sur le terrain ne résiderait pas dans sa difficulté d’utilisation, mais relèverait plutôt de problèmes d’acceptabilité de la part des professionnels. Pour comprendre les objectifs professionnels de l’audition, nous avons ensuite procédé à une analyse des pratiques en termes d’audition. Cette analyse a révélé que les enquêteurs recherchaient de façon prépondérante des informations sur les actions d’une scène criminelle. Sur la base de ces constats, nous avons conçu une consigne dite de reconstitution, qui fait appel aux traces verbatim en mémoire, et vise à apporter des actions générales et spécifiques d’une scène. La consigne a été testée dans un protocole d’entretien et a démontré son efficacité aussi bien quantitative que qualitative, en apportant davantage d’informations correctes sur une scène comparée à d’autres consignes, sans augmentation concomitante du nombre d’erreurs. Il apparait que la consigne de reconstitution répond de façon pertinente au principal objectif d’une enquête de police. / Eyewitness testimony is a fundamental determinant to the resolution of criminal investigations. To conduct criminal investigations effectively, it appears essential to obtain complete and accurate testimony. For this purpose, a research team has developed a method based on the features of human memory, aiming to enhance the eliciting of eyewitness accounts: the cognitive interview (Geiselman et al., 1984). Although this method enables investigators to obtain detailed descriptions without reducing the quality of the testimony, it is still only marginally used by legal professionals. The objective of this thesis is twofold: it aims to provide interviewing instructions which take into account the psychological processes at work in the recalling of events in episodic memory, while simultaneously being acceptable from the standpoint of professional practice. The first step involved conducting an analysis of professional practices. An evaluation of training in cognitive interviewing by police investigators showed that the method is easily learnt and suggests that the lack of implementation in practice does not stem from the difficulties linked to its implementation, but rather arises as a result of a lack of acceptance among professionals. In order to further our understanding of the professional objectives of the hearing, we then conducted an analysis of practices in terms of hearing. This analysis revealed that investigators were essentially seeking out information about the actions which took place during the crime scene. Based on these findings, we designed a re-enactment-alike interviewing instruction, which activates the verbatim traces in memory and is intended to elicit the general and specific actions of a scene. This instruction was tested in an interviewing protocol and demonstrated its quantitative and qualitative effectiveness in providing a greater quantity of correct information compared with other instructions, whilst withstanding a concomitant increase in the number of errors. Re-enactment-alike instruction thus appears highly relevant for reaching the main objective of a police investigation.

This study investigates the use of personal description as an investigation technique to identify suspects. The study entails qualitative data obtained from interviews with investigators, literature, as well as case studies. The study found that personal description can be used as an investigation technique to identify suspects. There are eight techniques that the investigator should apply in order to identify suspects or perpetrators of a criminal act. To conduct effective investigation, it is important for the criminal investigators to be familiar with the techniques of identification and the application thereof. The description of offenders plays an important role as far as arresting offenders is concerned. The methods used - or to be used - by investigators to describe a person were also discussed. It is important that the investigators should work with other government departments, private investigators and security officials, to implement this technique in order to identify and arrest offenders. / Police Practice / (M. Tech (Forensic Investigation))

The thesis consists of two parts: translation of a half of Savage Continent, a book by British historian Keith Lowe, with key topics including the universal destruction of Europe caused by the Second World War and the subsequent wave of vengeance that swept across Europe in its aftermath; and a commentary on the translation, beginning with an introduction of the author and his style, subsequently providing extensive overview of the development of the Czech discourse about the expulsion of Germans, translation analysis of the original English text of a chapter concerning the expulsion of Germans and its position in the discourse, as well as a look t the target reader and reception, and finally describing various translation problems that occurred while translating this chapter, including not only linguistic, but also poetic-ideological problems.