Date of Award
2-10-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Criminology and Criminal Justice, MA
First Advisor
Selye Lee
Committee Members
Angelo Brown; Averi Fegadel
Call Number
LD 251 .A566t 2022 H46
Abstract
Eyewitness identification evidence is extremely dependent on the processes utilized by law enforcement to acquire and uphold the evidence. Unquestionably, research has led to a variety of significant findings regarding the ways in which law enforcement obtains identification evidence from eyewitnesses. Despite these findings and academics' best efforts to disseminate their results to public agencies, policymakers, and important law enforcement personnel using a variety of evidence, changes to policy and practice have been slow to come about, if they have come at all. Using a sample of Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of police agencies in Arkansas (N = 69), we aimed to examine perceptions of the CEOs of eyewitness identification practices. This study found strengths and weaknesses regarding eyewitness identification procedures in Arkansas. Findings from this study found a majority of the respondents (p = 69), police chiefs, sheriffs, and directors of Arkansas law enforcement agencies, indicated their agencies had implemented written policies for show-ups and photographic lineups, and by a slim margin, acknowledged their agencies have adopted one of the “core four” recommendations – fair proper fillers. However, a majority of the respondents indicated they had not adopted the remaining best-practice recommendations: standardized pre-lineup instructions, double-blind administration, and contemporaneous confidence statements. Most of the respondents agree that voluntarily adopting model policies could prevent erroneous identifications; however, over two-thirds of the respondents believe a legislative mandate could prevent others. Furthermore, those respondents who have not adopted these preventive policies indicated there are reluctant positions within the criminal justice system with misguided perceptions preventing such initiatives. Policy implications of the results and recommendations for future research are included
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Henson, Chadwick Shane, "Perceptions of law enforcement officers regarding eyewitness identification policies: A survey of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Arkansas police agencies." (2023). Student Theses and Dissertations. 222.
https://arch.astate.edu/all-etd/222
