Eyewitness identification of multiple perpetrators

• Published date: 03 November 2020
• Author: Nortkie, A.
• Date: 03 November 2020
• Citation: (2020) 33 SACJ 348
• Pages: 348-381

Eyewitness identication of

multiple perpetrators*

ALICIA NORTJE,** COLIN G TREDOUX,***

& ANNELIES VREDEVELDT****

ABSTRACT

To date, research and South Afric an case law has largely ignored the memory

burden experienced by witnesse s to multiple-perpetr ator crimes and failed

to address the challenges t hat arise when admi nistering identi cation

parades for such crimes. Empi rical research sugges ts that eyewitnesses

to multiple-per petrator cri mes achieve low identi cation accurac y, which

worsens with the addition of each p erpetrator to be identi ed. Witnesses

to multiple-perpetr ator crimes also exper ience a unique memory task of

matching crim inal actions to per petrators. Prelim inary empir ical evidence

suggests witnesses pe rform poorly at this task. Although some i nternational

research documents t he difculties that of cers experience when conducting

identication parades, t here is little evidence of how South A frican ofcer s

administer pa rades in the eld. Thi s article presents empir ical evidence

from a sample of detectives in the Wester n Cape showing that in-eld

administr ation of parades for multiple-per petrator crimes a re not uniform,

and ofcers risk conducti ng parades that would not be considered ‘fair’. The

article concludes that the c urrent South Af rican guidelines m ay protably

be revised, so that di fculties assoc iated with admini stering parades for

multiple-perpetr ator crimes are allevi ated.

1 Introduction

Although there is ample research on eyewitness memor y for single-

perpetrator crimes, eyewitness memor y for multiple-perpetrator crimes

has been largely neglected by the law, police, and researchers. This

is surprising, given the prevalence and nature of multiple-per petrator

crimes in South A frica and international ly. Although reliable and up-

to-date crime st atistics reporting the pe rcentage of multiple-perpetrator

*This art icle was made possible with suppor t from the South Afr ican Centre for Digital

Language Resource s (SADiLaR). SADiLaR is a resea rch infrastructu re established by

the Departm ent of Science and Technology of the So uth African gover nment as

part of the Sout h African Rese arch Infrast ructure Road map (SARIR). The author (s)

received nancial supp ort for the research, aut horship, and/or publication of th is

article from the S outh African Centre for Digital L anguage Resources (SADiLaR).

** PhD (Psychology) (UCT), Postdocto ral Research Fellow, Department of Psychology,

University of Cape Town.

***

PhD (Psychology) (UCT), Professor in t he Department of Ps ychology, University of

Cape Town.

****PhD (Psycholog y) (York), Department of Crimina l Law and Crimi nology, Vrije

Universiteit Amster dam.

348

(2020) 33 SACJ 348

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd

crimes and the number of offenders are ha rd to nd, one can turn to

other sources such as the Victims of Cr ime Survey (VOCS) and peer-

reviewed research. Questions about the number of perpet rators were not

analysed in the 2013/20141 and 2016/2017 VO CS, 2 and not asked in the

2017/2018 VOC S.3 Fur thermore, only select key ndings from the VOCS

2018/2019 were reported in the latest publication of the Governance,

Public Safety and Justice.4 Findings from other peer-reviewed research

in South Africa a nd abroad that document the prevalence of multiple-

perpetrator crimes a re summarised in Table 1. The pattern of ndi ngs

suggests that (a) crimes are often committed by multiple perp etrators,

and (b) certain crimes are more l ikely to be committed by multiple

perpetrators (eg hijacking, assault).

Tabl e 1 Estimated prevalence of multiple -perpetrator crimes i n various countries

Country Source Cr ime type Per cent of

crimes committed

by multiple

perpetrators

Australia Au stralian Bur eau of Statistics,

20045Sexual assault 23.0%

European

Union

European Union Agenc y for

Fundamental Rights, 20126Crimes agai nst

minority groups

46.0% –70.0%

South

Africa

Artz & Kuni saki, 20037Rape 50.0%

Jewkes et al, 20128Rape 17. 4%

1 Statistics Sout h Africa ‘Vic tims of Crim e Survey 2013/2014’ (2015), available at

http://beta2.statssa.gov.za/ publications/P0341/P03412013.pdf, accessed on

13 September 2020.

2 Statistics Sout h Africa ‘Vic tims of Crim e Survey 2016/2017’ (2018), available at

https://www.statssa.gov.za/ publications/P0341/P03412016.pdf, accessed on

13 September 2020.

3 Statistics Sout h Africa ‘Victims of C rime Survey 2017/2018’ (2019), available at http: //

www.statssa.gov.za / publications/P0341/P03412017.pdf, accessed on 13 September

2020.

4 Statistics Sout h Africa ‘Gover nance, Public Safety a nd Justice Survey: Vict ims of

Crime 2018/19’ (2019), available at http://www.statssa.gov.za/ publications/P0341/

P03412018.pdf, accessed on 13 September 2020.

5 Australian Bu reau of Statistic s ‘Sexual Assau lt in Australia : a Statistical O verview’

(2004) 26, available at htt p://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/

C41F8B2864D42333CA256 F070079CBD4/$File/45230_2004.pdf, accessed on

13 September 2020

6 European Union Agenc y for Fundamental Rights (FR A) ‘European Union Minorities

and Discrim ination Survey (EU-MIDIS). Data in Foc us Report: Minorities as Vict ims

of Crime’ (2012) 13.

7 Cited in MAH Hor vath & L Kelly ‘Multiple perpetrator rape: Na ming an offence and

initial rese arch ndings’ (200 9) 15 J Sexual Aggression 83.

8 R Jewkes, L Vetten, R Jina, N Chr istodes, R Sigsworth & L L oots ‘What we know-

and what we don’t: Single and multiple pe rpetrator rape i n South Afric a’ (2012) 41

SA Crime Q 11.

Eyewitness identication of multiple perpetrators 349

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd

Country Source Cr ime type Per cent of

crimes committed

by multiple

perpetrators

Maw, 20129R ape 30.0%

Statistics Sout h Africa, 201510 Theft 45.9%

Robbery 79.7 %

Hijacking 10 0.0%

Assault 4 8.4%

Sexual Assault 36.4%

Fraud 14.3 %

Statistics Sout h Africa, 201811 Household experience

of assault

9.4%

Individual expe rience

of sexual offence

5.8%

Individual expe rience

of assault

6.7%

Swart et al, 200 012 Rape 30.0%

Vredeveldt et al, 201513 Various crimes 55%

United

Kingdom

Curran & Mil lie, 200314 Rape 19.0%

United

States

Franklin, 200415 Rape 10.0%–33.0%

Sourcebook of Cri minal Justice

Statistics, 200816 Violent Crimes

(ove ra ll)

20.5 %

Assault 75.8%

Robbery 22.8%

Rape 1.4%

9 10 11 12 13 1 15 16

Multiple-perpetrator crimes a re not limited to only two-per son

(ie, dyad) crimes; instead the number of perpetr ators involved in

multiple-perpetrator crimes va ries greatly. For example, of the 328

police dockets of multiple-perpetrator rapes repor ted in Johannesburg

9 S Maw The psychological i mpact of rape trauma: A lo ngitudinal study of adult

female survivor s in the Western Cape, South Afric a. PhD (University of Cape Town)

(2013).

10 Statistics So uth Africa op cit (n1)

11 Statistics S outh Africa op c it (n2)

12 LA Swart, A Gilch rist, A Butchart, M Seedat & L Mar tin ‘Rape sur veillance thr ough

district su rgeon ofces in Johan nesburg, 1996–1998: Find ings, evaluation and

prevention implication s’ (2000) 30 SA J Psych’y 1.

13 A Vredeveldt, CG Tredoux, A Nortje, K Kemp en, C Puljevic´ & GN Labuschagne

‘A eld evaluation of the Eye-Closu re Interview wit h witnesses of serio us crimes’

(2015) 39 L & Hum Behav 189.

14 A Vredeveldt, CG Tredoux, A Nort je, K Kempen, C Puljevic´ & GN Labuschagne

‘A eld evaluation of the Eye-Closu re Interview wit h witnesses of serio us crimes’

(2015) 39 L & Hum Behav 189.

15 K Frankli n ‘Enacting masculinit y: Antigay violence and g roup rape as partic ipatory

theater’ (2004) 1 S exuality Res & Social Pol’y 25.

16 Sourcebook of Cri minal Justice Statistics ‘ Table 3.31. Estimated percent dis tribution

of violent victim izations by multiple offende rs by type of cri me and perceived race

of offenders’ (2008), available at http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t3312008.

pdf, accessed on 13 September 202 0.

350 SACJ . (2020) 2

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