The Effects of Suggestive Questioning on Alibi Corroboration

• In Event: Policing Perspectives and Policies

Abstract

One factor that may affect a person’s willingness to be an alibi corroborator is the type of questions police use when questioning potential alibi corroborators. In study one, participants questioned using negative suggestive questioning were significantly less likely to serve as an alibi corroborator than participants questioned using no suggestive questioning in a cheating scenario. In study two, I explored whether the use of suggestive questioning affect a participant’s willingness to serve as alibi corroborators in a simulated ‘party’. Participants reported to the lab with a friend to do team building activities. At the end of the session, participants were questioned about a crime that ostensibly took place using positive, negative, or neutral questioning. After assessing alibi willingness, distributed a questionnaire that assessed alibi depth, alibi confidence, and memory for the event in question. In the simulated party scenario, the effects of suggestive questioning had no effect on participants’ decisions to corroborate the suspect’s alibi. Thus, it is possible that the effect of suggestive questioning on one’s willingness to corroborate an alibi may depend on the specific scenario in question.

Authors

• Joshua Behl, Flagler College

• Lora M. Levett, University of Florida