Accuracy of Children's Eyewitness Identifications in a Field Setting

Abstract

In order to increase the external validity and forensic relevance of laboratory findings on the effects of age on facial recognition and recall, this study examined the accuracy of 4th, 8th, and 11th graders' memory for a staged event. Children were exposed to a staged theft by a live male target and were subsequently interrogated by an authority figure dressed in a police uniform or casually dressed. Recognition was assessed by a six-person photo lineup that included the target's photo. Recall of the target's appearance and actions was assessed by employing a nine-item open-ended questionnaire. The data revealed a statistically reliable effect of age on eyewitness memory, a result not found in past field studies. Younger children performed significantly more poorly on the photo lineup than did older children. The effect was also prevalent on several recall items. These data supplement and extend the consistent laboratory findings that young children are less reliable eyewitnesses than adults. Despite claims in the research literature that the reason that young children are less reliable than adults is because they are more suggestible, research data are mixed. The present study found little evidence of suggestibility in the child witness. Carefully conducted research on the issue of suggestibility is needed in order to assess the veracity of this common claim.