A group of psychologists has argued that police line-up procedures don't help us identify suspects effectively. They say their new interactive technology could improve the chances of witnesses picking out the right person.
Rather than having witnesses choose from photographs of potential suspects, the new tech, developed by researchers at the University of Birmingham, allows witnesses to 'click and drag' images of potential suspects' faces. Doing so allows them to pull a suspect's face to the same angle as when the witness encountered them.
The researchers found that this sort of interactive viewing improves the accuracy of witness selection by 42 per cent. Even compared to video line-ups - when the suspects are filmed turning from side to side - the new technology improved selection accuracy by 20 per cent.
This story is from the December 2023 edition of BBC Science Focus.
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This story is from the December 2023 edition of BBC Science Focus.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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