Accuracy of and confidence in mock jailhouse informants' recall of criminal accounts

摘要

While much research has explored how well earwitnesses can identify perpetrators' voices, little published research has examined how well they can recall criminal admissions. This exploratory study examined the effects of two variables relevant to criminal investigations—rehearsal and length of retention interval between witnessing and reporting an event—on the recall of details and strength of the accuracy–confidence (AC) relationship for such details from a perpetrator's criminal admission. Results suggest that confidence can be a reasonable predictor of accuracy, depending on whether the admission is rehearsed, the length of retention interval, and the centrality of details to the crime recounted. Substantial variance was found in how the above factors affected recall accuracy and confidence of individual details as well. While much research is still needed, our findings provide preliminary support for practical suggestions that may assist in credibility assessments of earwitnesses to criminal accounts, such as jailhouse informants. Copyright ? 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.