hall and player

• aim


  are experts affected by a written report when assessing poor quality prints?

  are experts emotionally affected by the type of crime?
• method 


  field experiment using a standard room at the memetropolitan police fingerprint bureau
• sample


  self selected

  70 experts and 12 managers

  experienced ranged from three months to thirty years

  most were active investigators
• materials


  tight forefinger prints scanned into a £50 note

  14 copies made from the same printer

  10 point finger print form

  crime scene report
• procedure


  told to treat it like a normal day

  given the same print and asked to match on a ten point finger print form

  low emotion was a forgery case

  high emotion was an alleged murder

  the background of the note obscured the print
• results


  57/70 read the report with 30 in the high group

  52% were affected with 6% in the low group

  all experts made similar decisions regardless of group

  high - 6 identified, 15 insufficient, 13 some details and 1 no identification

  low - 7 identified, 12 insufficient, 16 some detail and none no identification
• conclusions


  an experts final decision is not affected by emotion

  experts are less affected by cognitive bias than non experts as the report of surplus - 19% didn’t read
• AO2


  while we think we are affected by the high emotion group the final decision is similar in both

  relatively artificial despite field settings experts know there is not consequences to their actions
• suggestions 


  experts should be blind to crime type so provide just the prints as 19% ignored the report

  • endured everyone assessed the prints in the same way
  • reduced risk of bias and increased objectivity

  implements training - 52% felt affected so may be less confidence

  • improved judgement