WITNESS FACTORS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON JURORS' PERCEPTIONS AND VERDICTS

Mock jurors (N = 363) read a mock trial transcript that examined the influence of age of witness (child vs. adult), the witness's relationship to the crime (bystander vs. victim), and the type of eyewitness identification decision (positive vs. foil vs. non-identification) on their perception of the witness's accuracy for other crime details, credibility, and verdict. The offender's physical description was perceived as more accurate with a positive versus foil identification. The perceived accuracy of the offender's description did not vary with a positive identification versus nonidentification. Child victims were perceived as credible as adult victims, but a child as a bystander was perceived as less credible than an adult as a bystander. More guilty verdicts were rendered with a positive identification versus a foil identification or a nonidentification. Guilty verdicts were made at a comparable rate when the witness made a foil identification or a nonidentification.