Towards Recommender Systems for Police Photo Lineup

Photo lineups play a significant role in the eyewitness identification process. This method is used to provide evidence in the prosecution and subsequent conviction of suspects. Unfortunately, there are many cases where lineups have led to the conviction of an innocent suspect. One of the key factors affecting the incorrect identification of a suspect is the lack of lineup fairness, i.e. that the suspect differs significantly from all other candidates. Although the process of assembling fair lineup is both highly important and time-consuming, only a handful of tools are available to simplify the task. In this paper, we describe our work towards using recommender systems for the photo lineup assembling task. We propose and evaluate two complementary methods for item-based recommendation: one based on the visual descriptors of the deep neural network, the other based on the content-based attributes of persons. The initial evaluation made by forensic technicians shows that although results favored visual descriptors over attribute-based similarity, both approaches are functional and highly diverse in terms of recommended objects. Thus, future work should involve incorporating both approaches in a single prediction method, preference learning based on the feedback from forensic technicians and recommendation of assembled lineups instead of single candidates

Determinants of estimated face composite quality

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (p. 142-157 ).This thesis addresses the evaluation of an investigative tool commonly used by police forces around the world, namely a face composite or facial likeness. The process of constructing a composite involves a number of cognitive elements, all of which contribute to the final composite quality. This thesis examines elements of the construction process and assessment of the final composite quality in research and practice. There are three main aspects to the empirical work reported here. The first, consisting of two experimental studies, investigates the possibility of reinstating context as a way of improving composite quality. The second examines composite construction and use within the South African Police Service. The third examined the measurement of composite quality itself

GREEBLES AND BRONCOS: A TEST OF EXPERTISE IN THE CROSS-RACE EFFECT

People are more accurate at recognizing faces of individuals of their own race than individuals of another race; this well-replicated phenomenon is known as the cross-race effect (CRE). The reasons underlying the CRE are not clear; research indicates that expertise with own- versus cross-race faces may play a role, but there is also evidence that social categorization is a factor. Two experiments examine the roles of expertise and categorization by comparing the effects of cross-race faces to novel stimuli (Experiment 1) and rival university members (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 used inversion as a test of expertise and holistic processing to compare White faces, Black faces, and Greebles. In addition, the EZ Diffusion model was utilized to gather insight into the components underlying the differences in accuracy and reaction time. Results indicate that, for most measures, Black faces shared more similarities with Greebles than White faces, pointing to a strong component of expertise in the CRE. In Experiment 2, upright and inverted images of White and Black males were identified as members of the participants' own or rival university. Again, the EZ Diffusion model was applied to the results. A cross-race effect was found, but contrary to work by other researchers, no cross-university effect was detected, again indicating that expertise, rather than categorization, is a critical factor in the CRE. The results are discussed within the context of models that incorporate both perceptual expertise and social categorization, as well as how factors such as saliency might have affected the results

State of Utah v. Manuel Antonio Lujan : Brief of Petitioner

On Writ of Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeal

Identification parades upholding the integrity of the criminal justice process?

Evidence from eyewitnesses is often the starting point for police investigations and it is estimated that it plays an important role in one quarter of all contested Crown Court cases. However, the memory is a fragile and malleable instrument which can produce unreliable yet convincing evidence. Because mistaken witnesses can be both honest and compelling, the risk of wrongful conviction in eyewitness identification cases is high, as is illustrated in a number of famous miscarriages of justice. This thesis assesses the sufficiency of the protections offered to defendants in cases involving eyewitness identification by examining psychological research on memory, police procedures for the collection of evidence from eyewitnesses, and judicial discretion to exclude unreliable evidence found in $R$ $v$ $Turnbull$ and section 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. In interview, startling levels of guessing were reported by witnesses attending identification procedures; and suspects were largely unaware of their rights. Current identification procedures are time-consuming and inefficient; and psychological research offers some guidance but few answers, precluding the usefulness of expert evidence. The thesis concludes that an increase in specialised identification officers, reform of procedures to allow for greater use of video identification, guidelines on the exercise of discretion under s.78, and judicial education regarding the importance of using a comprehensive $Turnbull$ direction are required before an adequate level of procedural and evidential protection against erroneous identification can be offered to suspects

EvoFIT: A Holistic, Evolutionary Facial Imaging System

This thesis details the development and evaluation of a new photofitting approach. The motivation for this work is that current photofit systems used by the police - whether manual or computerized - do not appear to work very well. Part of the problem with these approaches is they involve a single facial representation that necessitates a verbal interaction. When a multiple presentation is considered, our innate ability to recognize faces is capitalized (and the potentially disruptive effect of the verbal component is reduced). The approach works by employing Genetic Algorithms to evolve a small group of faces to be more like a desired target. The main evolutionary influence is via user input that specifies the similarity of the presented images with the target under construction. The thesis follows three main phases of development. The first involves a simple system modelling the internal components of a face (eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth) containing features in a fixed relationship with each other. The second phase applies external facial features (hair and ears) along with an appropriate head shape and changes in the relationship between features. That the underlying model is based on Principal Components Analysis captures the statistics of how faces vary in terms of shading, shape and the relationship between features. Modelling was carried out in this way to create more realistic looking photofits and to guard against implausible featural relationships possible with traditional approaches. The encouraging results of these two sections prompted the development of a full photofit system: EvoFIT. This software is shown to have continued promise both in the lab and in a real case. Future work is directed particularly at resolving issues concerning the anonymity of the database faces and the creation of photofits from the subject's memory of a target

Sex, Labor, And The American Way: Detroit Aesthetic In Mid-Twentieth-Century Literature

The essay analyzes Sinclair Lewis short fiction in If I Were Boss, U.S.A. by John Dos Passos, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans, and Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby, Jr. The primary literature is juxtaposed with a study of visual texts and historic research with a locational and thematic basis in Detroit. Ford Times and early automobile advertisements, Diego Rivera\u27s mural Detroit Industry, photographs of the Sojourner Truth housing project riots, and the accounts of gay union workers comprise a framework for each of the central texts. Detroit aesthetic is gritty, realist, and shaped by and in the defiance of the organizational logic of the Ford Motor Company. This aesthetic is observable in the following ways: 1) Form-- publishing format is shaped by commercial concerns that sometimes determined the content and distribution methods of the work. Some texts are self-reflexive about their own consumption. The narratives are of each are crafted in distinct components that often resist the temptation to be read as working together like a well-oiled machine. 2) Subject--labor, production, consumption, and advertising are all recurring motifs the authors use figuratively and literally. 3) Language--the wording and punctuation represent the fast-paced modern dialect; the assemblage of new signifiers do not line up with the objects they traditionally signified in. 4) Gender, sexuality, and reproduction--control and order rein in desire and sexuality. Women in the workforce cause traditional gender codes to be redesigned, resulting in fear of the loss of efficiency. Masculine identity is as equally shaped by capitalism as women\u27s roles are. Production and consumption are tied to sexual reproduction in different ways in each text

Psychological Engagement in Choice and Judgment Under Risk and Uncertainty

Theories of choice and judgment assume that agents behave rationally, choose the higher expected value option, and evaluate the choice consistently (Expected Utility Theory, Von Neumann, & Morgenstern, 1947). However, researchers in decision-making showed that human behaviour is different in choice and judgement tasks (Slovic & Lichtenstein, 1968; 1971; 1973). In this research, we propose that psychological engagement and control deprivation predict behavioural inconsistencies and utilitarian performance with judgment and choice. Moreover, we explore the influences of engagement and control deprivation on agent’s behaviours, while manipulating content of utility (Kusev et al., 2011, Hertwig & Gigerenzer 1999, Tversky & Khaneman, 1996) and decision reward (Kusev et al, 2013, Shafir et al., 2002)