Similar case studies

REF impact found 9 Case Studies

Currently displayed text from case study:

Promoting justice, protecting victims and supporting witnesses: The impact of the Self-Administered Interview (SAIĀ©) in investigative contexts

Summary of the impact

The Self-Administered Interview (SAI©) is a powerful evidence-based investigative interviewing tool designed to elicit comprehensive initial statements from multiple witnesses and victims, particularly in time- and resource-critical situations. Developed in the laboratory and tested in the field, the research underpinning the SAI© has resulted in changes in policy, professional practice and training activities within police forces internationally. Operationally, the SAI© has contributed to the investigation of major criminal incidents enabling investigators to collect information from witnesses in challenging situations. The SAI© has elicited critical leads and compelling evidence for Court proceedings — indicating public benefit arising from service improvements.

Submitting Institution

University of Portsmouth

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Criminology
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Eyewitness Identification Evidence

Summary of the impact

Professor Tim Valentine is an expert in facial identification by eyewitnesses. His research has proved that video lineups provide more reliable evidence than live lineups. It has contributed to changes in the legal code of practice for eyewitness identification. He has trained hundreds of police officers and lawyers in the problems of witness identification, and acted as an expert witness in criminal cases. High-profile cases include Abdel Basset al-Megrahi (the Lockerbie bomber), Barry George (wrongly convicted of Jill Dando's murder) and Omar Deghayes, a British resident detained in Guantanamo Bay.

Submitting Institution

Goldsmiths' College

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Criminology
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Evidential interviewing, eyewitness identification and interrogation: establishing protocols and training practitioners for proper capture and preservation of memory

Summary of the impact

Changes to the law in the early 1990s removed the need for corroborating or physical evidence in abuse cases and allowed videotaped evidence of a child or other vulnerable witnesses to be used in a criminal court. This necessitated the drawing up of guidance to help police officers and other judicial practitioners, gather crucial evidence while minimising unintentional influence. Research at Leicester has underpinned work to assess and improve the effectiveness of this guidance and to create a framework of procedural best practice. This has influenced and directed the formation of protocols and training development of practitioners for uniform, fair and reliable investigative interviewing of vulnerable witnesses and for accurate identification and interrogative interviewing of suspects in the UK and through the sharing of best practice, across the UK and internationally.

Submitting Institution

University of Leicester

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Criminology
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

The Self-administered Interview: Using applied memory research to help improve the police interview

Summary of the impact

Researchers at Abertay University are engaged in research that focuses on developing and testing evidence-based procedures that inform and enhance policing procedures surrounding evidence gathering. One particularly successful line of research has produced an innovative investigative tool called the `Self Administered Interview' (SAI©) that is proven to enhance witness statements and protect memory. The SAI© was developed and tested in a series of controlled lab-based studies at UAD, and later field-tested with eyewitnesses to real crimes with the support of the Association of Chief Police Officers. The SAI© is already standard police practice in some UK and European forces with over 2,500 officers trained in its use. It has also been used in major Health and Safety investigations in the off-shore Oil and Gas industry.

Submitting Institution

University of Abertay Dundee

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Criminology
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Cognitive performance under challenging circumstances.

Summary of the impact

Dr Kneller's research on cognitive performance under challenging circumstances demonstrates impact in two areas:

1) Informing practice in diving. Kneller's research has demonstrated the effects of nitrogen narcosis on memory, and how anxiety may compound its severity. This has implications for recreational, commercial and military diving and has been recognized by diving industry sources.

2) Improving eyewitness identification within the context of crimes. Kneller's research has informed practice in the process of eyewitness identification for victims of crime. Her findings have impacted on policing practice in terms of how suspect line-ups are conducted and her expertise recognized within practitioner circles.

Submitting Institution

University of Winchester

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Neurosciences
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Enhancing Suspect Identification Rates from Facial Composites and CCTV

Summary of the impact

This research, which examines police investigatory methods to identify police suspects has directly increased suspect identification rates by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). It led to the MPS establishing a register of `super-recognisers' - officers particularly skilled at identifying faces from CCTV footage - and changed practices. Dissemination of the research, also well-publicised in the media, has influenced national policy makers. There is worldwide interest and secured European funding for a test to identify super-recognisers amongst police cohorts. The research is also improving recognition of EFIT-V images, the facial composite system used by most UK police forces. Dr Davis is disseminating his findings through the training course that operators have to complete to be certified to produce composites in real police investigations. He is also contributing to economic impact by enhancing the EFIT-V product.

Submitting Institution

University of Greenwich

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Improvements to the training and professional development of Police in investigative interviewing

Summary of the impact

The University of Portsmouth research into effective use of the Cognitive Interview (CI) by police forces in the UK and overseas has led to recommendations for changes to training of police officers in this field throughout their careers being adopted in several countries across the world. The work, led by Dr Becky Milne, has also been used to inform the decision making processes of a variety of national policy reviews and professional bodies. Research has improved the standard of interviewing, particularly for sensitive investigations such as rape and child abuse.

Submitting Institution

University of Portsmouth

Unit of Assessment

Social Work and Social Policy

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Criminology
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Cognitive research leads to improved lie detection processes and training adopted by professionals in forensic, intelligence, security and commercial settings

Summary of the impact

The innovative Cognitive Load (CL) technique, based on cognitive theory, yields significantly superior lie detection results by capitalising on the fact that interviews can be devised that are more difficult for liars than truth-tellers. This CL technique, pioneered by Vrij, is used for ethical information-gathering interviewing and undercover and interrogation purposes by police, military and intelligence agencies worldwide. Training of these law enforcement professionals as a result of our research has been implemented. An insurance company has adopted a revised protocol as a result of applying our research and has implemented an industry-leading product for reducing fraudulent insurance claims.

Submitting Institution

University of Portsmouth

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Clinical Sciences, Public Health and Health Services
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Providing software, training and support to the police to allow them to identify criminal suspects using facial-composite images.

Summary of the impact

Frowd's research aims to understand the extent to which witnesses and victims of crime construct accurate facial composites (pictures of criminal's faces), and to develop techniques which maximize the effectiveness of composites, thus allowing the police to identify as many offenders as possible using this type of forensic evidence. The principal impact involves a software system (EvoFIT), a new interview (Holistic-Cognitive Interview, H-CI) and two formats (animated caricature and stretched composite) for the police to publish composites in the media. In the audit period, these advancements have been used by police forces in the UK, US, Romania and Israel.

Submitting Institution

University of Central Lancashire

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Legal

Research Subject Area(s)

Information and Computing Sciences: Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology

Filter Impact Case Studies

Download Impact Case Studies