Familiarity and Conviction in the Criminal Justice System Definitions, Theory, and Eyewitness Research

Eyewitness research has focused mainly on stranger identification, but identification is also critical for the "familiar stranger." Understanding how variability in an eyewitness's familiarity with the perpetrator may influence recall and recognition accuracy will facilitate swifter and more just resolutions to crime.

Familiarity and Conviction in the Criminal Justice System explores the concept of familiarity ranging from complete unfamiliarity (as with a total stranger) to very familiar other. Many identifications fall somewhere between these two extremes, and herein the authors analyze this middle ground as it relates to the criminal justice system: namely, describing perpetrators, finding suspects, eyewitness identification, and jury decision making. The first half of the book draws on neighboring social science disciplines to consider familiarity against the backdrop of eyewitness identification: social psychology theories of how familiarity is established; cognitive psychology and its theories of recognition; face processing literature; and eyewitness literature. The second half of the book examines systemic variables that influence identification, such as lineup procedures, interviewing techniques, the role of age, race, role of witness (victim vs. bystander); as well as how familiarity is weighed in jury decision-making. The book concludes with suggestions for further research and underscores the impact of familiarity on many real-life cases.

Joanna Pozzulo is a Full Professor and the Chair of the Department of Psychology at Carleton University. Dr. Pozzulo's research and teaching broadly falls under the domain of Forensic Psychology (borrowing from developmental, social, and cognitive psychology). Dr. Pozzulo has published widely on the "young eyewitness".

Emily Pica is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological Science and Counseling at Austin Peay State University. Dr. Pica's research interests include ways in which we can improve identification accuracy, factors that influence jurors' decision making, and the perceptions of the wrongfully convicted.

Chelsea Sheahan is a researcher at Carleton University. Her research focuses primarily on factors that impact eyewitness memory within a developmental context. Her secondary research interests are broadly in the area of juror decision making and corrections.

Chapter 1
Defining Familiarity and Overview of Concepts

Chapter 2
Theoretical Underpinnings: A Social Psychological Perspective

Chapter 3
Theoretical Underpinnings: A Cognitive Psychological Perspective

Chapter 4
Eyewitness Descriptions and Identifications of Familiar Perpetrators

Chapter 5
Factors that can Interact with Familiarity: System Variables

Chapter 6
Factors that can Interact with Familiarity: Estimator Variables

Chapter 7
Considering "Familiarity" as a Dependent Variable

Chapter 8
How Persuasive is an Eyewitness who is "Familiar" with the Defendant?

Chapter 9
Future Directions for Research Examining the Notion of "Familiarity" and its Impact on the Criminal Justice System