Witness Artistic Rendition and its Impacts on Visual Memory for Forensic Facial Composite Creation

Abstract

PURPOSE: In the absence of photographic or other identifying evidence, composites provide crucial intelligence in police investigations, though their accuracy depends on a witness's facial memory and recall. The current study investigated a novel technique aimed at increasing face recall and composite effectiveness.

APPROACH: In this study, one group of participants (control) viewed a facial photograph, recalled the face using a cognitive interview and created a composite with a forensic artist. A second (experimental) group of participants did the same except that they sketched the face themselves prior to the cognitive interview. The impact of participants sketching the face was measured by assessing the number of “units of information” produced during free recall of the face, as well as the identifiability of the composites, evaluated by an additional group of participants who attempted to name the sketched composites. Participants also rated their general ability to draw and their general level of observation.

FINDINGS: Results showed, relative to the control group, that the experimental group provided more detailed descriptions of the face and that this improvement to memory led to creation of more identifiable composites. Therefore, our findings suggest that this artistic rendition technique enhances both the cognitive interview and the accuracy of forensic facial composites. It was also found that participants’ self-rated measures of drawing and observant behaviour were positively related to the accuracy of the participants’ composites.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: This simple technique of asking witnesses to sketch the face themselves could be implemented by police forces with minimal effort and impact to budget. It presents a straightforward and budget-efficient way to increase the identifiability of composite images without the need for additional lengthy training for forensic practitioners.

VALUE: Results suggest that the witness artistic rendition technique represents a novel, low-cost, and simple method that could be utilized to increase composite accuracy.