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Full-Text Articles in Law and Psychology

Details In Testimony: How Hedge Words Influence People’S Perceptions Of Victim Testimony Credibility, Justine B. Rayborn Jun 2017

Details In Testimony: How Hedge Words Influence People’S Perceptions Of Victim Testimony Credibility, Justine B. Rayborn

Student Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine whether hedge words and the age of a memory can influence the way participants (mock jurors) perceive an alleged sexual assault victim’s credibility. Prior research has demonstrated many issues that can affect the accuracy of memory for childhood events such as childhood amnesia, fragmented and distorted memories, false memories and source monitoring errors and the way in which jurors’ decisions can be swayed based on verbal cues to confidence. Here, we further investigated whether jurors' decisions are sensitive to the age of the memory—an event that happened in the recent or distant …


The Effect Of Phenotypic Bias On Lineup Construction Fairness, Sydney Y. Wood May 2017

The Effect Of Phenotypic Bias On Lineup Construction Fairness, Sydney Y. Wood

Student Theses

There is converging evidence that people make inferences about others’ culpability and deservingness of punishment based on whether they express more of the African phenotype (e.g., darker skin, wider nose, thicker lips; Blair, Judd, & Chapleau, 2004; Eberhardt Goff, Purdie & Davies, 2004; Kahn & Davies, 2011). What is less clear is whether facial features that are phenotypically related to particular racial groups play a role in the mistaken identification of innocent Black suspects. Eyewitness descriptions lack detail with regard to racial phenotypes (Fahsing, Ask & Granhag, 2004; Nicholson & Kovera, 2013). Without descriptions containing phenotypic features to use when …


Tattoos And Criminal Behavior: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Body Art And Crime, Daniel D. Dajani May 2017

Tattoos And Criminal Behavior: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Body Art And Crime, Daniel D. Dajani

Student Theses

This thesis investigates the relationship between having tattoos and crime. A review of past research concerning tattoos, crime and other forms of deviancy demonstrates that a relationship exists to some extent. This thesis gathers new data concerning tattoos and crime and adds to the knowledge base by examining the alterations in the correlation and what may be causing said alterations. This thesis utilized the survey method and participants were recruited via a mix of in-person and online strategies. We aimed to garner participation from a varied group of respondents that would ensure data relevant to the study would be produced …