CHAPTER NINE
QUESTIONS
1. It is estimated that approximately __________ innocent people are convicted each year in
the United States because of mistaken eyewitness identification
a. 9, 500
b. 3, 500
c. 4,500
d. 1,500
2. The generation of memory that is related to an incident, but is not relevant to the issue
being considered, is called
a. lateral transference
b. forward transference
c. reverse transference
d. unconscious transference
3. In the Robert Buckhout study conducted in the 1970s, seven weeks after eyewitnesses
observed an staged event, _____ % could not correctly identify the assailant
a. 75
b. 60
c. 40
d. 30
4. In the Robert Buckhout study conducted in the 1970s, seven weeks after eyewitnesses
observed an staged event, of the witnesses who could not make a correct identification,
_____ choose an innocent bystander at the event.
a. two-thirds
b. one-half
c. three-quarters
d. four-fifths
5. In July 1996, the explosion of TWA Flight 800 was reported by 20 eyewitnesses as
having been caused by a _______________
a. comet
b. bomb
c. missile
d. bird
6. The process of acquiring new information, keeping it in memory, and using it at a later time
is divided into three stages. These stages are
a. encoding, storage, and retrieval
b. perceiving, incorporating, and remembering
c. perceiving, storage, and retrieval
d. perceiving, incorporating, and retrieval
7. All of the following are estimator variables, except
a. lighting
b. stress
c. fatigue
d. the type of questioning employed
8. At its simplest level, the situation where a suspect is placed among distracters, and witnesses
are asked if they can identify him or her, is called
a. heterogeneous identification
b. a lineup
c. a showdown
d. an identification array
9. In situations where a suspect is being compared to distracters for purposes of identification,
these “distracters” are known as
a. targets
b. subjects
c. fillers or foils
d. confederates
10. The process in which the person who administers a lineup is not aware of which lineup
member is the suspect and which members are distract is known as a(n)
a. blind lineup
b. double blind lineup
c. contextual lineup
d. Show-up
11. A sequential photo spread is different from a simultaneous photo spread, in that in the latter
a. photos of suspects are presented at one time
b. photos of suspects are presented one at a time
c. photos of suspects are presented to allow for relative judgments
d. photos of suspects are presented to allow for comparative judgment
12. “Propitious heterogeneity” of lineups means that
a. foils are as similar on all dimensions to the description as given by the witness suspect
b. foils match the description of the perpetrator as given by the witness but vary on
characteristics not mentioned in the witness’s description
c. the size of the lineup is five or less
d. the size of the lineup is six or more
13. It is common practice in the United States to use _______________ persons (a suspect plus
four or five fillers) in a lineup
a. three or four
b. four or five
c. five or six
d. six or seven
14. It is common practice in the United States to use _______________ photos in a photo lineup
a. three or five
b. four or six
c. five or seven
d. six or eight
15. A suspect is presented in a lineup (or instructions are given to the witness) in such a manner
as to convey to the witness who the police want the witness to choose. This is known as
a. police malpractice
b. police malfeasance
c. simulation bias
d. presentation bias
16. Research comparing simultaneous to sequential lineup presentation has found __________
false identifications in the sequential condition
a. fewer
b. greater
c. equal
d. no instances of
17. In 1967, the United States Supreme Court decided three cases (United States v. Wade,
Gilbert v. California, and Stovall v. Denno) reinforcing the critical importance of
information obtained from lineups in the suspect identification process. But the Court’s
decisions and recommendations were made without any substantial contribution from
_______________
a. judges
b. psychological science
c. jurors
d. victims of crimes
18. In Neil v. Biggers (1972) and Manson v. Braithwaite (1977) the Supreme Court established
five factors that determine the reliability of an identification. These factors include
a. the witness’s opportunity to view the criminal during the crime
b. the length of time between the crime and the subsequent identification
c. the level of certainty demonstrated by the witness at the identification
d. all the above
19. Attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld have used DNA evidence to examine claims of
innocence by people who were convicted by juries based primarily on eyewitness testimony.
Scheck and Neufeld’s work is called the
a. Exonerations Project
b. Exculpatory Project
c. Innocence Project
d. Scheck Project
20. The United States Attorney General who commissioned a report based on Barry Scheck and
Peter Neufeld’s work was
a. Jenet Reno
b. Eric Holder
c. Alberto Gonzales
d. John Ashcroft
21. Among the recommendations adopted by the Justice Department that were based on the
work of Scheck and Neufeld, is that questioning of witnesses should be _______________
a. cognitively based
b. emotively based
c. open-ended
d. leading
22. Measures to help control for biased or prejudiced testimony include
a. making use of trial simulations
b. making use of Motions to Suppress
c. making use of voire dire
d. all the above
23. _______________, more than other trial technique, is the most commonly implemented
safeguard against erroneous conviction resulting purely from mistaken identification
a. direct examination
b. cross-examination
c. voire dire
d. pre-trial conferences
24. The 1985 case of Kirk Bloodsworth illustrated
a. the profound effects of mistaken eyewitness testimony
b. how jurors can be intentionally mislead
c. the effects of race on juror decision-making
d. how scientific testimony can be misused
25. This person has been called the “father of scientific history” due to his strict standards of
evidence-gathering and analysis in terms of cause and effect without reference to divine
intervention which was so common for that time in history
a. Hammurabi
b. Tiberius
c. Xenophon
d. Thucydides
26. In his study of eyewitness accuracy, Robert Buckhout reported several factors which are
likely to result in an unreliable identification of a suspect. These include all the following
except
a. projective identification
b. stress
c. physical condition of the witness
d. suggestive identification procedures
27. The general unawareness of jurors to the factors which can distort eyewitness testimony
provides justification for
a. hung juries
b. admitting expert psychological testimony on eyewitness identification to assist jurors in
understanding these issues
c. jury nullification
d. all of the above
28. The Yerkes-Dodson law
a. describes the effects of arousal on learning
b. describes the effects of complexity on learning
c. describes the effects of past experience on memory
d. describes the effects of conformity on memory
29. Alfred Binet (1900) expressed that eyewitness reports were affected by
a. time deterioration
b. retroactive interference
c. proactive interference
d. suggestive questioning
30. The 1970s research conducted by Robert Buckhout took place at
a. Queens College
b. Brooklyn College
c. Hunter College
d. City College
Chapter 9 ANSWERS