ПСИХОЛОШКИ АСПЕКТИ ПРЕПОЗНАВАЊА ЛИЦА У КРИВИЧНОМ ПОСТУПКУ
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION IN THE CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

Summary/Abstract: The identification of the criminal, on the basis of the statement of the witness, is one of the main elements of the solution of a number of dangerous crimes. On the basis of perception and oral description of the event and the physical appearance (of the criminal) by the witnesses, the investigation begins its search for the criminal. When the suspects, after a longer or shorter period of time, have been apprehended by the law, they are confronted with witnesses for the purpose of making a „positive” identification, by the recognition of the suspect’s appearance. The term recognition pertains to the whole process embodying perception, memory (recalling of) and the presentation of that memory. Each one of these elements is a potential source of error, resulting in a mistake in recognition of the suspect. Perception is not only passive registration of the event and the appearance of the participants in the memory, but a constructive process of receipt of signals from the environment. The limited capacity of the human senses, the objective circumstances and the psychological state (of the witness), to a large extent, influence the deformation of perception. After a period of time, memory sustains constant changes. Certain details are altered or added for the purpose of supporting the originally registered appearance, and bringing it into accord with the newly acquired information, while others are forgotten. Finally, the presentation of the memory almost always deforms the memory, while the procedure itself is susceptible to suggestion and influence. By analysing each of the mentioned elements, we have attempted to emphasize the unreliability of this means of putting on evidence and point out the necessity of the critical re-assessment of it in each concrete case. After all, our attention has been drawn to this problem by the practice in the courts in. Yugoslavia and abroad, which has registered many cases of the miscarriage of justice due to a mistake in recognition of the suspect.

• Details
• Contents