Journal
JOURNAL OF POLICE AND CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 33, Issue 4, Pages 375-384Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11896-018-9274-0
Keywords
Jailhouse informant; Secondary confession; Eyewitness identification; Eyewitness confidence; Primary confession
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Prior research has shown that primary confession evidence can alter eyewitnesses' identifications and self-reported confidence. The present study investigated whether secondary confession evidence from a jailhouse informant could have the same effect. Participants (N=368) watched a video of an armed robbery and made an identification decision from a photo lineup. Except for those in the no-feedback conditions, all participants then read that certain lineup members either confessed to the crime, denied involvement, or were implicated by a jailhouse informant. Jailhouse informant testimony implicating the identified lineup member led participants to have significantly higher confidence in their identification. In contrast, jailhouse informant testimony that implicated a lineup member other than the identified led participants to have significantly lower confidence in their initial identification, and 80% of these witnesses changed their identification. These results indicate that jailhouse informant testimony can influence eyewitnesses' confidence and their identification decisions.
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