Abstract
Recognition is the forensic method used in the identification process. This relies on the ability of the witness, the suspect, or the accused to re-identify a particular object or person to confirm or disprove the presence of the particular object or person among other recognized objects.
Recognition may be used as key evidence in the investigation process, especially in cases where eyewitness testimony is the only evidence. By describing the possible influences that affect one's ability to recognize a previously seen thing or person, we can reduce the risk of wrongly accusing people due to inaccurate identification.
The increasing number of foreigners who come to our country corresponds with a higher possibility of such persons in a criminal investigation. These foreigners may have to administer testimony, which may include recognition.
Could their ethnicity be a disadvantage when identifying? Previous research abroad describes the so called cross-race effect, which limits us when we recognize a person of an ethnicity other than our own.The research below was designed to determine the extent to which it is difficult for us to identify perpetrators of another ethnicity and what other traits may influence the results in the recognition of others. Stimulus material was produced as a video depicting an artificially orchestrated assault with Czech and Vietnamese offenders and a time interval followed by a photo-lineup.
Given the results of international research, we anticipated a negative influence of ethnicity on the offender's ability to correctly recognize the perpetrator. Participants of Czech nationality in the presented research showed a higher rate of false identification of other-nationality offender, but there was no found relationship between a person who correctly identified one offender and correctly identifying others of either Czech or foreign ethnicity.