3D scanning a crime scene to enhance juror understanding of Bloodstain Pattern Analysis evidence.

There are numerous crime scene investigation applications of 3D scanning that have been previously documented. This paper documents the application of a 3D point cloud in the presentation of Bloodstain Pattern Analysis evidence to mock jurors. 150 mock jurors viewed a presentation of Bloodstain Pattern Analysis evidence from a murder trial in the UK. After viewing the evidence, the participants were tested on their knowledge of the evidence and repeated the test again 2 weeks later; to simulate criminal trial conditions; whereby there is a time lapse between the initial viewing of evidential material and deliberation. This paper found that the mock jurors who additionally viewed a 3D flythrough of a point cloud of the crime scene, better retained knowledge of the evidence over time, reported a greater ability to visualise the crime scene and had higher levels of interest in the evidence. Crucially, the 3D flythrough group did not report different levels of confidence in the accuracy of their memories of the evidence, nor different levels of emotional arousal to the group that viewed the evidence without the 3D presentation. Together, these findings suggest that 3D scanning of crime scenes, and the resultant point cloud's presentation to jurors, could add further value to the justice system when spatial information, such as Bloodstain Pattern Analysis evidence, is presented.

Associations between the misinformation effect, trauma exposure and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression.

This research aimed to conduct an initial investigation into the relationships between the "misinformation effect" and trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Study 1 was a pilot study developing an online misinformation paradigm that could assess the influence of emotion and arousal on memory distortions. Participants (n = 162, Mage = 39.90; SD = 10.90) were recruited through TurkPrime. In Study 2 community members (n = 116, Mage = 28.96; SD = 10.33) completed this misinformation paradigm and measures of trauma exposure, PTSD, and depression. Study 1 found memory for central details was better for high-arousal than low-arousal and neutral-arousal images. Peripheral memory appeared worse for negative and neutral images than positive images. Study 2 found that, when controlling for age and gender, PTSD symptoms significantly predicted proportion of correct responses on control items. However, there was no evidence to indicate that trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms nor depression symptoms, were associated with proportion of correct responses on misled items. Valence and arousal did not influence these associations. These findings have important implications in clinical and legal contexts where individuals with a history of trauma, or who are experiencing symptoms of PTSD or depression, are often required to recall emotionally-laden events. There is a surprising dearth of research into the misinformation effect in clinical populations and further research is required.

The effect of cross-examination style questions on adult eyewitness accuracy depends on question type and eyewitness confidence.

In adversarial legal systems across the world, witnesses in criminal trials are subjected to cross-examination. The questions that cross-examiners pose to witnesses are often complex and confusing; they might include negatives, double negatives, leading questions, closed questions, either/or questions, or complex syntax and vocabulary. Few psycholegal studies have explored the impact of such questions on the accuracy of adult witnesses' reports. In two experiments, we adapted the standard investigative interview procedure to examine the effect of five types of cross-examination style questions on witness accuracy and confidence. Participants watched a mock crime video and answered simple-style questions about the event. Following a delay, participants answered both cross-examination style questions and simple questions about the event. Negative and Double negative questions sometimes impaired the accuracy of witnesses' responses during cross-examination, whereas Leading and Leading-with-feedback questions did not impair - but sometimes enhanced - the accuracy of witnesses' responses. Participants who were better at discriminating between correct and incorrect responses on the initial memory test were more likely to improve the accuracy of their reports during cross-examination. Our findings suggest that the effect of cross-examination style questions on eyewitness accuracy depends on question type and witnesses' confidence in their responses.