Jeffrey S Neuschatz

University of Alabama in Huntsville | UAH · Department of Psychology

The misapplication of forensic science has been identified as one of the leading contributors to wrongful convictions in the United States. Legal scholars, academics, and executive reports have criticized the forensic sciences and offered ways to improve their procedures and to avoid giving misleading testimony. Relative to other forensic sciences,...

In discussing jailhouse informants, it is critical to consider the psychology of confessions since jailhouse informants testify about information confessed to them by a defendant (i.e., a secondary confession). This chapter begins with a summary of research on primary confessions (i.e., a defendant testifying), including the circumstances of these...

Referencing a range of cases, the introduction establishes the inherent interest of jailhouse informants. It allows readers to anticipate (a) further case examples involving the use of jailhouse informants in the courtroom, (b) legal issues concerning jailhouse informants, and (c) how jailhouse testimony may be false. In addition, the introduction...

The use of jailhouse informants is not a new phenomenon, although the concern with false convictions due to their testimony is relatively recent. This chapter offers a detailed presentation of the use of jailhouse informants throughout history. Included in this chapter are additional case examples. In presenting a historical timeline of jailhouse i...

This chapter offers in-depth coverage of psychology and law research investigating the perception of jailhouse informants in court. As we stated earlier, psychology and law research has made clear that testimony from a jailhouse informant can influence jurors in a courtroom as much as an incriminating confession made by a defendant. Moreover, psych...

During a trial, it might be very important for a jury to learn about jailhouse informants to avoid having jurors fall prey to false information provided by jailhouse informants. This chapter reviews psychology and law research on the impact of three types of legal safeguards to false jailhouse informant testimony: expert testimony, cross-examinatio...

Although some might think that having a current inmate walk into court and testify as a jailhouse informant is illegal, that is far from true. Jailhouse informant testimony appears to be hearsay evidence (information received from another), but it is not considered as such given the context in which the information was acquired. This chapter presen...

Using several jailhouse informant case examples, this chapter discusses psychological theories and research on how individuals lie and reasons for lying. The latter includes research that investigates whether individuals (including jurors) can determine if someone is being deceitful, through either action or words. This chapter also discusses how b...

The conclusion discusses several recommendations to protect against false jailhouse informant testimony with the hope of leveling the playing field between the prosecution and defense when such testimony is provided. These recommendations concern the prosecution (e.g., requiring corroboration of jailhouse informants’ testimony, recording all intera...

Over the years, prosecutors have recognized that one piece of evidence is very persuasive to jurors—testimony from a jailhouse informant (JI). A JI is a witness (typically for the prosecution in a criminal case) during a trial who testifies (often in exchange for an incentive, such as reduced jail time) that he has gained evidence about a fellow in...

This study investigated the impact of jailhouse informant testimony on mock juries. In addition to allowing for jury deliberations, individual judgments (as measured in most prior research) were examined. Two hundred ninety-one undergraduates, in five- to six-member mock juries, heard a fictional murder trial summary in one of three conditions: jai...

The present study investigated the impact of a defendant explicitly countering the claim of a jailhouse informant that the defendant confessed to a murder. Jury-eligible community members (N = 127) recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk read (via Qualtrics) a fictional trial summary in which a defendant was accused of murder. The trial was present...

Clothing bias occurs during a showup when the clothing worn by the suspect matches the clothing of the culprit during a crime. The present study investigated whether a clothing match enhanced identification performance at varying levels of culprit facial view. Witnesses watched a mock-crime video and then made an identification decision from a show...

Recent research shows a strong positive relationship between eyewitness confidence and identification accuracy, assuming the confidence judgment results from a first, fair test of memory. The current study examines whether jurors understand this relationship, and the boundary conditions under which this understanding holds. Mock jurors read a trial...

Jailhouse informants are thought to be one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions. The current studies examined community members’ (E1: N = 99; E2: N = 289) willingness to provide false testimony as a jailhouse informant. In E1, participants were all presented a first offer (1-year sentence reduction) to testify as a jailhouse informant. Tho...

Research has demonstrated that primary confessions corrupt perceptions of forensic evidence, such as handwriting evidence. Additionally, research on secondary confessions indicates that statements made by jailhouse informants influenced juror decision making to the same degree as primary confessions. The goal of the current study was to investigate...

Around the world, almost every aspect of people’s lives has been affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). We focused on one context that has received relatively little attention to date: the courtroom. Guided by established psychological findings and theories, we explored how the emergence of COVID-19 and proposed protective measures against t...

This study investigated the impact of jailhouse informant (JI) testimony on mock-jurors’ perceptions of an alcohol-facilitated rape trial. Male and female participants (N = 186) read a rape trial summary of an adult female after attending a concert. The trial varied whether the victim was intoxicated or sober and whether a JI testified that the def...

This chapter explores an emerging area of psychology and law: informant witnesses. Since the introduction of plea-bargained testimony, informant witnesses have come forward with information that has led to wrongful convictions. An informant witness can be an accomplice witness, who, through their own admission, has participated in a crime and is wi...

Informants are witnesses who often testify in exchange for an incentive (i.e. jailhouse informant, cooperating witness). Despite the widespread use of informants, little is known about the circumstances surrounding their use at trial. This study content-analyzed trials from 22 DNA exoneration cases involving 53 informants. Because these defendants...

The present study examined the presence of a jailhouse informant (JI) on mock jurors’ perceptions of a sexual assault trial. In two experiments, male and female, jury-eligible community members (recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk) read (via Qualtrics) a fictional trial summary in which a defendant sexually assaulted a 6-year-old child or 25-ye...

Informant testimony is a leading cause of wrongful convictions. The Supreme Court has recognized the questionable reliability of informant testimony but has generally held it admissible while emphasizing the existing safeguards built into the legal system. Psycholegal research has demonstrated the overwhelmingly persuasive nature of informant testi...

Jailhouse informants are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. In an attempt to preempt such miscarriages of justice, several states (e.g., Connecticut and California) have mandated that judicial instructions be provided to act as a safeguard against false testimony. This study evaluated the effectiveness of these instructions in helping jurors...

The present study explored whether the successful detection of a jailhouse informant's ulterior motives, inconsistencies in testimony, and knowledge of privileged crime details would influence verdict decisions. Undergraduate participants (N = 381, 218 females) listened to a trial transcript in which a jailhouse informant's testimony was manipulate...

Münsterberg acknowledges the relationship between hypnosis and suggestibility and addresses popular misconceptions about hypnosis, individual differences in hypnotizability, and the relationship between hypnotism and crime. In the contemporary literature, there is little dispute that hypnosis is a useful mnemonic technique in some respects, but tha...

The deception detection method Münsterberg advocates is grounded on principles of association. Although this approach derives partially from a Freudian view of the unconscious, it is not terribly dissimilar to more modern, physiologically based lie detection methods. In recent years, deception detection has become a major focus within psychology an...

This chapter focuses on using suspects’ subtle emotional displays as an indication of their veracity. Münsterberg mentions several physiological indicators of an unconscious emotional reaction, such as changes in pulse, breathing, and galvanic skin response. The sorts of physiological measures described by Münsterberg foreshadow the polygraph, whic...

As the preceding chapters show, Münsterberg was incredibly prescient in his view of what psychology could offer the law. Nonetheless, he neglected to include a number of topics that are currently of great concern to forensic psychologists, the criminal justice system, and policymakers. For example, at the time Münsterberg wrote On the Witness Stand...

Although Münsterberg introduces this chapter with a clinical case study involving posthypnotic suggestion, the focus is on suggestibility and reconstructive memory processes broadly, including the role of individual differences (e.g., age, gender) and alcohol intoxication, which he supports with both experimental evidence and anecdotal observation....

In this chapter, Münsterberg describes a number of cases and experiments that illustrate the vagaries and unreliability of human perception and memory, producing what he refers to as “illusions.” This chapter focuses on the illusions of unconscious transference, change blindness, and the confidence–accuracy relationship. Unconscious transference oc...

Here, Münsterberg emphasizes the importance of doing field studies as opposed to laboratory experiments. Contemporary eyewitness researchers have, until recently, largely ignored Münsterberg’s advice to study naïve witnesses. Rather, they have tended to favor well-controlled laboratory studies. This approach has yielded a wealth of useful data, but...

In his final chapter, Münsterberg moves from the psychological questions of earlier chapters to the questions of how to prevent crime and whether criminals are “born” or “made.” The psychology of crime, with its implications for prevention, treatment, and punishment, is a large question that continues to be of interest to psychologists, sociologist...

Münsterberg frames this chapter by discussing a notorious Chicago case where he received considerable criticism for arguing that the defendant—who was subsequently convicted and executed—had confessed falsely. He presents a number of reasons why suspects might confess to crimes they did not commit, such as instrumental efforts to obtain promised re...

Prior research has shown that primary confession evidence can alter eyewitnesses’ identifications and self-reported confidence. The present study investigated whether secondary confession evidence from a jailhouse informant could have the same effect. Participants (N = 368) watched a video of an armed robbery and made an identification decision fro...

Filler siphoning theory posits that the presence of fillers (known innocents) in a lineup protects an innocent suspect from being chosen by siphoning choices away from that innocent suspect. This mechanism has been proposed as an explanation for why simultaneous lineups (viewing all lineup members at once) induces better performance than showups (o...

Lampinen (2016) suggested that proponents of ROC analysis may prefer that approach to the diagnosticity ratio because they are under the impression that it provides a theoretical measure of underlying discriminability (d′). In truth, we and others prefer ROC analysis for applied purposes because it provides an atheoretical measure of empirical disc...

We surveyed students, community members, and defense attorneys regarding beliefs about secondary confession evidence (i.e., when a third party tells authorities that a person has confessed to him or her) from jailhouse informants and other sources. Results indicated that laypeople perceive secondary confessions as less credible than other types of...

This study examined the effects of post-identification feedback on witness retrospective self-reports in showups and lineups, and importantly, focused on guilty and innocent suspect identifications. After viewing a mock crime video, participants were asked to identify the suspect from either a target-present or target-absent photo lineup or showup....

Pre-admonition suggestion is an identification-relevant comment made to an eyewitness by a lineup administrator before the lineup admonition. Quinlivan et al. (2012) found that their suggestion inflated mistaken identification rates and retrospective identification. However, the suggestion used was a compound statement, making it unclear which comp...

The U.S. Supreme Court, state courts, and social science researchers have stated that showup identifications (one-person identifications) are less reliable than lineup identifications. Moreover, 74 % of eyewitness experts endorsed false identifications as more likely to occur from showups than lineups. Examination of the extant literature and recei...

We investigated the impact of filler quality and presence on confidence, response latency, and propensity to respond ‘don't know’ in eyewitness line-ups and showups. More specifically, we tested the hypothesis that confident, fast witnesses would be accurate in fair line-ups and showups, but the inclusion of duds (poor fillers) would break down the...

Feedback provided to eyewitnesses can influence memory for how confident their previous lineup selections were. Witnesses given confirming feedback remember being more confident than witnesses who are told their selection was incorrect regardless of their accuracy. This can have a powerful impact on judges and juries. In the current paper, we exami...

Previous research reveals that showups are an inferior eyewitness identification procedure to lineups, but no single study has compared younger and older adults’ identification decisions for both of these procedures. We had witnesses watch a mock crime video and then make an identification decision from a fair lineup, a biased lineup, or a showup t...

Memory is a reconstructive process, relying on pre-existing shared knowledge to help us comprehend and interpret what we experience. A reliance on prior knowledge is a vital aid to communication and comprehension, but, as a consequence, results in the modification of some details in an event, the addition of other details, or even the fabrication o...

Showups, a single suspect identification, are thought to be a more suggestive procedure than traditional lineups by the U.S. Supreme Court and social science researchers. Previous research typically finds that a clothing match in showup identifications increases false identifications. However, these experiments do not allow for a determination of w...

A commitment error occurs when participants search through mug shots for the perpetrator, make a selection from the mug book, and then select that same individual from a subsequent lineup, even when faced with the actual perpetrator. The present study replicated a performance decrement arising from the commitment effect. In another condition, parti...

Showups–when a single suspect is presented to an eyewitness–are thought to be a more suggestive procedure than traditional lineups by the U.S. Supreme Court and social science researchers. The present experiment examined the impact of retention interval on showup identifications, because immediate showups might be no worse than, and perhaps even be...

To reach conclusions regarding the respective accuracy of two conditions, eyewitness researchers evaluate correct and false identification rates computed across participants. Two approaches typically are employed. One approach relies on ratio-based probative value measures; but Wixted and Mickes (2012; Gronlund et al., 2014) showed that these measu...

Research on primary confessions has demonstrated that it is a powerful form of evidence. The goal of the current research was to investigate whether secondary confessions – the suspect confesses to another individual who in turn then reports the confession to the police – could be as persuasive. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants read a murder tr...

Showups (a one-person identification) were compared to both simultaneous and sequential lineups that varied in lineup fairness and the position of the suspect in the lineup. We reanalyzed data from a study by Gronlund, Carlson, Dailey, and Goodsell (2009), which included simultaneous and sequential lineups, and using the same stimuli and procedures...

Two experiments examined two potential safeguards intended to protect accused persons against unreliable testimony from cooperating witnesses. Participants in both experiments read a trial transcript where secondary confession evidence was presented from either a jailhouse informant (Experiment 1 and 2) or an accomplice witness (Experiment 2). In E...

We examined whether post-identification feedback and suspicion affect accurate eyewitnesses. Participants viewed a video event and then made a lineup decision from a target-present photo lineup. Regardless of accuracy, the experimenter either, informed participants that they made a correct lineup decision or gave no information regarding their line...

We examined the additive and interactive effects of pre‐admonition suggestion and lineup instructions (biased or unbiased) on eyewitness identification rates. Participants watched a mock crime video, completed a target‐absent lineup identification, and completed a retrospective memory questionnaire. Prior to attempting an identification, participan...

Two experiments assessed the effects of mugshot commitment on the ability to make a subsequent lineup identification. Young (17–37 years) and older (55–87 years) participants viewed a crime video featuring a younger (20 years) or older (64 years) culprit. Some participants viewed a 50-photograph culprit-absent mugbook. Following a 1-week delay, par...

Two experiments were conducted to test whether post-identification feedback affects evaluations of eyewitnesses. In Experiment 1 (N = 156), evaluators viewed eyewitness testimony. They evaluated witnesses who received confirming post-identification feedback as more accurate and more confident, among other judgments, compared with witnesses who rece...

Feedback suggestive of mistaken eyewitnesses claiming that they identified the correct person leads to distorted retrospective judgments of certainty, view, and other testimony-relevant measures. This feedback effect can be significantly mitigated if witnesses later learn that the feedback source did not know which lineup member was the correct per...

After viewing or hearing a recorded simulated crime, participants were asked to identify the offender's voice from a target-absent audio lineup. After making their voice identification, some participants were either given confirming feedback or no feedback. The feedback manipulation in experiment 1 led to higher ratings of participants' identificat...

The present study presents one of the first investigations of the effects of accomplice witnesses and jailhouse informants on jury decision-making. Across two experiments, participants read a trial transcript that included either a secondary confession from an accomplice witness, a jailhouse informant, a member of the community or a no confession c...

Three studies examined procedures for reducing the post-identification feedback effect. After viewing a video event, participants were then asked to identify a suspect from a target-absent photo lineup. After making their identification, some participants were given information suggesting that their identification was correct, while others were giv...

Eyewitness identification testimony can be compelling evidence against a defendant; however, it is frequently unreliable and inaccurate. Post-identification feedback has been shown to affect participants' recollection and increased eyewitness's confidence even when their identification was inaccurate. This effect can be reduced or eliminated by the...

Two studies examined the effects of post-identification feedback, age, and retention interval on participants' memories and beliefs about memories for a videotaped event, as captured by a store surveillance camera. After viewing the video, they were then asked to identify the suspect from a target-absent photo line-up. After making their identifica...

Two name-learning techniques were compared: expanding rehearsal and name-face imagery. Participants studied name-face associations and were given a cued recall test in which they were presented with a face and were to recall the name. They were presented with either an expanding rehearsal schedule (expanding condition), a distinctive facial feature...

The present research provides compelling evidence for recollection rejection in the memory conjunction paradigm. In Experiment 1, warnings provided at time of test were shown to reduce memory conjunction errors. Moreover, the authors found substantial evidence of recollection rejection and phantom recollection. In Experiment 2, the authors manipula...

Our research used the Deese/Roediger and McDermott paradigm [1] to examine the effects of hypnosis on memory. The paradigm yielded a high rate of false recognition (>.70), regardless of whether participants were hypnotized or not. Hypnotized (N = 21) and non-hypnotized (N = 20) participants reported high false recognition rates and were very confid...

Encoding manipulations (e.g., levels of processing) that facilitate retention often result in greater numbers of false memories, a pattern referred to as the more is less effect (M. P. Toglia, J. S. Neuschatz, & K. A. Goodwin, 1999). The present experiments explored false memories under generative processing. In Experiments 1-3, using Deese-Roedige...

These experiments document that warnings can substantially reduce false memories in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm when the critical items are easily identifiable. Participants in a norming study identified the critical item after hearing a list of words. The lists with critical items that could be identified by the largest proportion...

Two experiments document the effect of memory schemata in naturalistic situations. Participants in both experiments watched a short videotaped lecture in which the instructor enacted several schema-consistent actions (e.g. writing on a whiteboard) and schema-inconsistent actions (e.g. smoking a cigarette). Following the videotaped lecture, particip...

In 2 experiments, the authors examined the effects of schemas on the subjective experience of remembering. Participants entered a room that was set up to look like a graduate student's office under intentional or incidental learning conditions. They later took a recognition memory test that included making remember-know judgments. In Experiment 1,...

The phenomenology of false memories was investigated in three experiments in which participants heard two experimenters read lists of items that were related to critical nonpresented items. In Experiments 1, following a recognition memory test, participants rated the phenomenological characteristics of their memories immediately and after a 48-hour...

In this article we review the literature on hypnosis and memory, and we argue that there is no firm empirical rationale to use hypnosis or aggressive procedures in psychotherapy to excavate memories. Following a review of various legal positions taken with respect to the use of hypnotically elicited testimony in the courtroom, and a review of the a...

Participants listened to a story based on several underlying scripts. Recognition memory was tested the same day and 24 hours later. If participants believed an action was stated they made remember/know judgements. For remember judgements subjects also indicated the types of details they were recollecting. There were more hits and more conscious re...

Participants listened to a story based on several underlying scripts. Recognition memory was tested the same day and 24 hours later. If participants believed an action was stated they made remember/know judgements. For remember judgements subjects also indicated the types of details they were recollecting. There were more hits and more conscious re...

When lists of related words are presented to subjects, they sometimes recall or recognize nonpresented words related to those lists (critical lures). In fact, subjects sometimes claim to remember which of two speakers said the critical lures. We examined whether this finding could be accounted for by demand characteristics. If subjects' willingness...

In two experiments it was revealed that manipulations that increased recall of studied list items also increased false recall of theme-related, critical nonpresented words. In Experiment 1 subjects listened to a series of short word lists, each containing items associatively related to a theme, while engaging in either semantic or nonsemantic proce...

Several recent false memory studies have addressed the question of how false memories are experienced phenomenologically. In this article we argue that it is not only possible to address questions of this sort, but it is necessary for a full understanding of memory illusions. We define memory illusions as false beliefs about the past that are exper...

There has recently been a dra-matic increase in interest in talse memories—memories for events that never happened—due in large part to controversies such as the ones surrounding the accuracy of lost or repressed memories recov-ered during psychotherapy (e.g., Pezdek & Banks, 1996), faJse iden-tifications in eyewitness testimony {e.g.. Wells & Brad...

Three experiments that document a powerful false memory effect in recall and recognition are reported. Subjects studied lists of items related to critical nonpresented themes (e.g., sleep, needle) and then completed recognition and/or recall tests, as well as various metamemory tasks (e.g., remember/know, source monitoring). Results showed that the...