How Critical Is the Accuracy of an Eyewitness's Memory? Another Look at the Issue of Lineup Diagnosticity

It is argued that the effect of the reliability of lineup identification on the value of lineups for diagnosing guilt of a suspect may often be limited. Focusing on reliability may have the psychological effect of camouflaging the full evidential value of lineups, which largely depends on ecological likelihoods. A way to conceptualize that value by using Bayesian terminology is proposed. It is suggested that forensic psychologists take ecological parameters into account in evaluating the diagnosticity of any particular lineup if that is possible and, at any rate, consider the problem of reliability in the appropriate context.