Video-based identification procedures: Combining best practice and practical requirements when designing identification systems.

Abstract

A. M. Levi and R. C. L. Lindsay (2001) argued that when making recommendations for legal reforms, such as those concerning the conduct of identification procedures described by G. L. Wells et al. (1998), psychologists should include the full range of recommendations that will achieve the desired outcome. This is in contrast to the more pragmatic position adopted by Wells et al., who recommended only those changes that they believed were both beneficial and acceptable to the police. The authors of this commentary describe the results of the initial evaluation of a video-based identification parade system developed by the West Yorkshire Police in the United Kingdom and suggest that this might indicate a possible middle ground between these 2 approaches to achieving change in identification procedures.