Walker Heather, Tough Ann
Sci Justice. 2015 Dec;55(6):487-98. doi: 10.1016/j.scijus.2015.04.010. Epub 2015 May 16.
CCTV footage is commonly used in the court room to help visualise the crime in question and to help identify the offender. Unfortunately the majority of surveillance cameras produce such poor quality images that the task of identifying individuals can be extremely difficult. This study aimed at determining whether the task of identifying the offender in CCTV footage was one which a jury should be competent to do, or whether expert evidence would be beneficial in such cases. The ability of potential jury members, the general public, was tested by asking participants to play the role of a jury member by means of an online survey. Potential jury members viewed CCTV in which a simulated offence took place, and were subsequently asked to compare still images of a defendant to the offender to try to determine if they were competent and confident about making a judgement as to whether the defendant committed the crime. Factors such as age, gender and profession of the potential jury members were considered, as well as the type of crime committed, in order to establish if these play any role in the decision made by potential jury members. These factors did not appear to play a significant role; however confidence was also investigated and it became very evident that this was a factor that must be taken into consideration when determining the requirement for expert contribution in facial comparisons. Jury members may well be willing and competent to a basic level in carrying out a facial comparison but if they lack a certain level of confidence in their ability and decision making then this task is more suitable for an expert with experience and skills in this field.
法庭上通常会使用闭路电视录像来帮助直观呈现相关犯罪情况并协助识别犯罪者。不幸的是，大多数监控摄像头所拍摄的图像质量很差，以至于识别个人的任务可能极其困难。本研究旨在确定在闭路电视录像中识别犯罪者这一任务是否应由陪审团胜任，或者在这类案件中专家证据是否会有所帮助。通过在线调查让参与者扮演陪审团成员的角色，对普通公众这一潜在陪审团成员的能力进行了测试。潜在陪审团成员观看了发生模拟犯罪的闭路电视录像，随后被要求将一名被告的静态图像与犯罪者的图像进行比较，以确定他们是否有能力且有信心判断该被告是否实施了犯罪。研究考虑了潜在陪审团成员的年龄、性别和职业等因素，以及所犯罪行的类型，以便确定这些因素在潜在陪审团成员的决策中是否发挥任何作用。这些因素似乎并未发挥显著作用；然而，研究也对信心进行了调查，结果非常明显，在确定面部比较中专家协助的必要性时，信心是一个必须考虑的因素。陪审团成员在进行面部比较时可能在一定基本水平上愿意且有能力，但如果他们对自己的能力和决策缺乏一定程度的信心，那么这项任务更适合由在该领域有经验和技能的专家来完成。
