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 witnesses to multiple-perpetrator crimes and failed

to address the challenges that arise when administering identication

parades for such crimes. Empirical research suggests that eyewitnesses

to multiple-perpetrator crimes achieve low identication accuracy, which

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

to multiple-perpetrator crimes also experience a unique memory task of

matching criminal actions to perpetrators. Preliminary empirical 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, there is little evidence of how South African ofcers

administer parades in the eld. This article presents empirical evidence

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

administration of parades for multiple-perpetrator crimes are not uniform,

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

article concludes that the current South African guidelines may protably

be revised, so that difculties associated with administering parades for

multiple-perpetrator crimes are alleviated.

1 Introduction

Although there is ample research on eyewitness memory for single-

perpetrator crimes, eyewitness memory for multiple-perpetrator crimes

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

is surprising, given the prevalence and nature of multiple-perpetrator

crimes in South Africa and internationally. Although reliable and up-

to-date crime statistics reporting the percentage 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 Department of Science and Technology of the South African government as

part of the South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR). The author(s)

received nancial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this

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 the Department of Psychology, University of

Cape Town.

****PhD (Psychology) (York), Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vrije

Universiteit Amsterdam.

348

(2020) 33 SACJ 348

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd

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

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

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

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

2017/2018 VOCS.3 Furthermore, 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 and abroad that document the prevalence of multiple-

perpetrator crimes are summarised in Table 1. The pattern of ndings

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

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

perpetrators (eg hijacking, assault).

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

Country Source Cr ime typePer cent of

crimes committed

by multiple

perpetrators

Australia Australian Bureau of Statistics,

20045Sexual assault23.0%

European

Union

European Union Agency for

Fundamental Rights, 20126Crimes against

minority groups

46.0% –70.0%

South

Africa

Artz & Kuni saki, 20037Rape 50.0%

Jewkes et al, 20128Rape 17.4%

1 Statistics South Africa ‘Victims of Crime Survey 2013/2014’ (2015), available at

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

13 September 2020.

2 Statistics South Africa ‘Victims of Crime 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 on13 September

2020.

4 Statistics South Africa ‘Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey: Victims of

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

P03412018.pdf, accessed on13 September 2020.

5 Australian Bureau of Statistics ‘Sexual Assault in Australia: a Statistical Overview’

(2004) 26, available at http://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 research ndings’ (200 9) 15 J Sexual Aggression 83.

8 R Jewkes, L Vetten, R Jina, N Christodes, R Sigsworth & L Loots ‘What we know-

and what we don’t: Single and multiple perpetrator rape in South Africa’ (2012) 41

SA Crime Q 11.

Eyewitness identication of multiple perpetrators 349

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd

Country Source Cr ime typePer cent of

crimes committed

by multiple

perpetrators

Maw, 20129Rape 30.0%

Statistics Sout h Africa, 201510 Theft 45.9%

Robbery 79.7%

Hijacking 100.0%

Assault 48.4%

Sexual Assault36.4%

Fraud 14.3%

Statistics Sout h Africa, 201811 Household experience

of assault

9.4%

Individual experience

of sexual offence

5.8%

Individual experience

of assault

6.7%

Swart et al, 200 012 Rape 30.0%

Vredeveldt et al, 201513 Various crimes55%

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

(overall)

20.5%

Assault 75.8%

Robbery 22.8%

Rape 1.4%

91011121311516

Multiple-perpetrator crimes are not limited to only two-person

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

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

police dockets of multiple-perpetrator rapes reported in Johannesburg

9 S Maw The psychological impact of rape trauma: A longitudinal study of adult

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

(2013).

10Statistics South Africa op cit (n1)

11Statistics South Africa op cit (n2)

12LA Swart, A Gilch rist, A Butchart, M Seedat & L Martin ‘Rape surveillance through

district surgeon ofces in Johannesburg, 1996–1998: Findings, evaluation and

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

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

‘A eld evaluation of the Eye-Closure Interview with witnesses of serious crimes’

(2015) 39 L & Hum Behav 189.

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

‘A eld evaluation of the Eye-Closure Interview with witnesses of serious crimes’

(2015) 39 L & Hum Behav 189.

15K Frankli n ‘Enacting masculinit y: Antigay violence and group rape as participatory

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

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

of violent victimizations by multiple offenders 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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