Suppose that Danielle was an eyewitness to a store robbery. She gives the police a description of the criminal: "30-35 year-old male, brown hair, light eyes, about 5'10", with a missing finger on his left hand." A few weeks later, police track down a suspect. He fits Danielle's description, and additionally has a lazy eye and a huge tattoo on his neck. If police use the match-to-culprit approach in constructing a lineup for eyewitness identification, then the foils in the lineup ____.
A) may or may not have brown hair
B) will definitely have brown hair, but may or may not be missing fingers
C) will definitely have brown hair and missing fingers, but may or may not have a tattoo
D) will definitely have brown hair, missing fingers, and a tattoo

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The match-to-culprit approach requires that the foils in the lineup match the description given by the eyewitness. Since Danielle described the criminal as having brown hair and a missing finger, these features must be present in the foils. The tattoo, however, was not part of her original description, so it is not necessary for the foils to have it.

Suppose That Danielle Was an Eyewitness to a Store Robbery