The effect of alibi consistency, presence of physical evidence and timing of disclosure on mock juror perceptions.

Inconsistent alibis often are viewed negatively, but they may be due to simple mistakes and not deception. The strength of alibi evidence also matters; alibis supported by strong corroborative physical evidence are more believable than alibis with no physical evidence. The timing at which the alibi is disclosed to the prosecution also can affect alibi believability.

Assessing alibi believability: the alibi story, presence of physical evidence and timing of disclosure.

The content of the alibi story, corroborative physical evidence and timing of the alibi's disclosure may all affect alibi believability. CloudResearch workers ( = 276) read a mock case. The defendant's alibi story was scandalous (or neutral), included a receipt (or no mention), and was disclosed one day (or three weeks) later.

Sex offender registries: exploring the attitudes and knowledge of political decision-makers.

Sex offender registries (SORs) were established due to policies and practices intended to protect the public from individuals who commit sexually violent acts, and yet the empirical literature does not show that public SORs reduce or prevent sexual crimes. Given that politicians prominently influence SOR policies, the current study explores the views of SORs by 26 political decision-makers from Canada and the United States. Participants completed a survey on their opinions regarding SORs and their knowledge of SOR eligibility.

Alibi believability: Corroborative evidence and contextual factors.

A disbelief in alibis is one contributor to wrongful convictions. One reason that triers-of-fact may disbelieve alibis is that they lack evidence to corroborate the whereabouts of the suspect at the time of the crime. Contextual factors, such as when the alibi was disclosed and what was the nature of the crime, can also affect alibi believability.

Age differences and schema effects in memory for crime information.

Unlabelled: BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: This study investigated age-related differences in memory for crime information. Older adults have been found to rely more than young adults on schema- and stereotype-based processing in memory, and such age differences may have implications in the criminal justice system. Some prior research has examined schema-based processing among older adults in legal settings, but no studies have tested for schema effects on older adults' memory for specific details of a crime.

Perceptions of older adult eyewitnesses: will you believe me when I'm 64?

Participant-witnesses (young adults/young seniors/older seniors) viewed one of two versions of a simulated videotaped crime (crime context either familiar to young or older adults). The witnesses were videotaped responding to direct and cross-examination questions about the video. The older seniors were significantly less accurate than the young adults and young seniors.