Cross-Race Effect
Definition
The empirical finding that own-race identifications are more accurate than cross-race identifications (Meissner and Brigham meta-analysis, 2001), with practical implications for lineup composition in diverse-population jurisdictions.
- Also known as
- Own-race bias, other-race effect
- Key source
- Meissner and Brigham meta-analysis, 2001
- Finding
- Own-race identifications more accurate than cross-race ones
- Practical relevance
- Lineup composition in diverse-population jurisdictions
Common questions
Does the cross-race effect mean a cross-race eyewitness identification should be dismissed?+
No. It means such identifications carry a measurably higher error rate on average, so courts and juries are increasingly instructed to weigh that identification with more caution rather than treat it as automatically equal in reliability to a same-race identification.
What can investigators do to reduce the risk this effect creates?+
Standard eyewitness safeguards apply with extra weight here: a fair lineup with plausible foils of the same broad appearance, double-blind administration, and a documented confidence statement taken immediately after the identification rather than later at trial.
Related terms
- Estimator Variables
- Factors present at the time of the crime that affect encoding accuracy but cannot be retrospectively controlled, including weapon focus, cross-race effect,...
- Misinformation Effect
- The incorporation of misleading post-event information into the original memory trace, documented by Loftus and Palmer (1974) and subsequent studies. Distinguished from...
- Post-Identification Feedback Effect
- The inflation of witness confidence, perceived viewing quality, and retrospective memory detail following confirming feedback from an investigator. Documented by Wells and...
- R V. Turnbull Warning
- A mandatory judicial warning in English and Welsh Crown Court proceedings when the case depends substantially on identification evidence, requiring the jury...
- Reconstructive Memory
- The psychological model of memory as a constructive process shaped by schemas, expectations, and post-event information, rather than a fixed recording. Foundational...
- System Variables
- Factors in the identification process that are within the control of the criminal justice system, including lineup administration, instructions, and feedback policies....
- Weapon Focus Effect
- The reduced encoding of a perpetrator's face when a weapon is present, attributable to attentional narrowing toward the threat-relevant stimulus (Steblay meta-analysis,...