“It wasn't me, check the cameras!” Suspects' apparent verifiable responses might not indicate innocence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21558342 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ana Isabel Jiménez‐González (0000-0002-8209-3102, Department of Social Psychology and Anthropology Universidad de Salamanca Salamanca Spain), Jaume Masip (0000-0002-7783-9547, Department of Social Psychology and Anthropology Universidad de Salamanca Salamanca Spain, corresponding author), Iris Blandón-Gitlin (0000-0002-3485-5774, Department of Psychology California State University Fullerton California USA), Carmen Herrero (0000-0002-5261-3277, Department of Social Psychology and Anthropology Universidad de Salamanca Salamanca Spain) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 504-525 |
| Publication date | 2023-11-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Behavioral Sciences & the Law (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0735-3936 • E-ISSN: 1099-0798 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/bsl.2639 |
| PMID | 38032248 |
| OpenAlex | W4389178769 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
The verifiability of a suspect's alibi is often interpreted as a sign of innocence. Because the police resources are limited, verifiability could be used to dismiss suspects of minor offenses. We examined whether alibi verifiability actually indicates innocence for minor crimes. In Experiment 1, participants imagined they were guilty or innocent suspects of minor crimes and selected a response to convince the police of their innocence. Compared to innocent suspects, guilty suspects were more likely to select pseudo‐verifiable responses (which seemed verifiable but were not) rather than non‐verifiable responses. Experiment 2 revealed that pseudo‐verifiable responses increased observers' perceptions of innocence (rather than guilt). Experiment 3 suggested that people infer the police will not verify alibis of minor crimes, which may lead people to invent pseudo‐verifiable responses. These results indicate that apparent verifiability does not necessarily indicate innocence. The police should systematically test alternative hypotheses whenever they encounter apparent verifiable responses
Computer security · Criminology · Innocence · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Suspect · Verifiable secret sharing · Computer Science · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Deception detection and forensic psychology · Law · Psychology · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
| Highly cited | No |
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