News Release
December 23, 2002
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian Weaver
(202) 783.2077 ext. 3022
bweaver@psychologicalscience.org
Camera Angles Matter When Videotaping Interrogations
Videotaped confessions with the camera focused directly on the suspect more often lead mock jurors to judge a suspect guilty, according to research published in December 2002 issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the American Psychological Society.
Criminal interrogations are customarily videotaped with the camera lens zeroed in on the suspect. Psychological research has shown that objects that are the focus of attention, are "more likely than less conspicuous objects to be judged the originators of a physical event, even when there is no objective basis for such a conclusion," said G. Daniel Lassiter, author of the study. This phenomenon is referred to as "illusory causation."
"[This phenomenon] suggests the alarming possibility that the default camera perspective taken when recording criminal confessions could have an unintended prejudicial effect on trial participants' subsequent evaluations of the voluntariness of the confessions," said Lassiter, professor of psychology at Ohio University.
Compared with the same confession recorded from a different perspective, observers of a videotaped confession recorded with the camera focused on the suspect might be more likely to judge the confession as voluntarily given. Videotaped confessions that focus on the suspect and the interrogator equally resulted in judgments that were comparable to those based on more traditional presentation formats, i.e., audiotapes and transcripts.
"It is clear that the videotaping procedure per se is not inherently prejudicial," said Lassiter. "Rather, it is the manner in which the videotaping procedure is implemented that holds the potential for bias."
Current Directions in Psychological Science is a journal of the American Psychological Society and features articles by leading psychology researchers on important issues of broad public interest. The American Psychological Society's mission focuses on the advancement of research and science-based psychology in the public interest.
For more information on the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, and to obtain copies of the report, visit the APS Web site at www.psychologicalscience.org. For additional information contact Lassiter at lassiter@ohio.edu or Brian Weaver at the information above.