Discuss the use of simultaneous versus sequential lineup presentation. Include the concepts of relative versus absolute judgment in your discussion.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers may vary.In a traditional lineup, all lineup members are shown to the witness at once. This procedure is termed simultaneous presentation. An alternative procedure, used with increasing frequency, is to show lineup members sequentially, one at a time, in a procedure called sequential presentation. The witness makes a decision about each lineup member before seeing the next one.The manner in which a lineup is presented can affect the accuracy of identification. In a field study that compared simultaneous and sequential lineup procedures used by police in four sites across the country, psychologists found that the rates of identifying the suspect did not differ between the two techniques. Importantly though, simultaneous procedures yielded more mistaken identifications of fillers (18%) than did sequential procedures (11%).These results are consistent with a meta-analysis that compared simultaneous and sequential presentations in lab studies involving more than 13,000 participant-witnesses. The chance of mistaken identification was reduced by 22% when presentations were sequential rather than simultaneous. However, there was a trade-off: correct identifications were also reduced (by 8%) when lineups were shown sequentially. In general, sequential lineups result in fewer identification attempts, so both mistaken and accurate identifications are reduced.The beneficial effects of sequential lineup presentation may depend on how the lineup is constructed and presented. Sequential presentation is advantageous in situations in which there is a single suspect with at least four (usually five) fillers, cautionary instructions that the perpetrator may or may not be in the lineup, and only one attempt at identification.