Are there really police line-ups where someone is behind a one way glass and picks out somebody?
Yes. And not infrequently.
Used often enough for there to be debates and studies over the efficacy of the method:
(200 out of how many?)
One is tempted to observe that the problem isn’t with lineups, per se, but with the reliability of eyewitness identification in the first place, whatever method is used. Note that the quoted study seems to suggest that the traditional lineup, with reasonable controls, is as good a way as any of having eye witnesses identify suspects. “good” being a relative term.
They’re rare in NE Ohio, from what I’ve seen. Far more frequently used are photoarrays, in which the witness is shown six mug shots of similar-appearing people (one of whom is the police’s leading suspect), and is asked if the alleged perp appears there. Some criminologists favor telling the witness that the perp might not be among the six, so that the witness doesn’t feel under any pressure to select one of them.
Never been in a line-up, but I was involved in a “show-up” at one time. I was walking home from a bar one evening, ok, early one morning, when a deputy stopped me and put me in his car. After refusing to answer his questions about where I was and what I was doing, he told me that I was going to be charged with burglary of a motor vehicle, several counts. The deputy drove me to a parking lot where there was a police unit parked. I was told to get out of the car and walk in front of the other unit’s high beams.
I was put back in the car and the deputy who detained me got back in he said that the witnesses had ID’d me as the perp. I was then taken to the scene of the crime, a shopping center parking lot and was told that if I had anything to say, I had better say it then. At the scene, there was another person, dressed similar to me walking in front of another police car. After a few minutes, the deputy who stopped me came back to the car and said, “Your accomplice wants to take the rap on his own. Are you going to let him do that?”
I still said nothing and was told to be on my way. So, I don’t know if line-ups happen, but I do know that show-ups are used as needed.
SSG Schwartz
I have only been the witness in one photo lineup but they gave me a lot more than suspects (more like 20 I think). There are a couple of advantages to photo lineups over traditional ones. From a defense perspective, I would guess that they like them because you have to pick from a group of suspects that look very much alike. I was sweating bullets even though I got it right. They are also fairly fast for the police to assemble. It took them about an hour to put put mine together and that was in the middle of the night.
It is so very easy for the cop to favor one photo over the others, even if unconsciously. In order to make it fair, the presenter should also not know which is the preferred suspect.
I was in a one-person line-up, under suspicion of murder. Rather, I was being observed by several people. Fortunately, they decided I wasn’t the person, and they let me go.
Were they right?
Remember that Charles Stuart guy in Boston? He shot his pregnant wife (and himself) and blamed it on an imaginary black man. When they pulled in a suspect and put him in a lineup with five non-suspects, son-of-a-bitch, old Charly was successful in identifying the suspect. Coulda been luck, I guess, or he coulda been coached.
Friend of mine was walking past a local police station several years back and one of the bobbies asked him if he’d pop inside to take part in a line-up. They offered him £20 and a cup of tea I think.
He was early 20s with fairly long hair and an “unconventional” look - basically like a crusty dope-head without actually being one - so he was within the ballpark of what the suspect looked like.
The police were careful to explain that he shouldn’t worry if the witness picked him out.
An excellent point. I agree, this is the best practice.
back in the 70s when I was punk [short spiky hair, odd colors, and rathe rodd jewelry and way of dressing] I was dating a cop, and now and then I got asked to go in and be in a lineup. It was $5 a pop, so I didnt mind the easy money =)
I got ID’d as a murderer at one point in time … I was out to dinner with my BF and about 7 more cops at the time of the crime 
I think I was in about 50 lineups over 3 years. It was a blast. The rest of the females I regularly lined up with were girlfriends, daughters, sisters and wives. We were shoplifters, muggers, grifters, hookers and a couple of murder/attempted murderers. Ah, and one arson that turned out the guy did it for the insurance himself
These two things are precisely what did not happen in the “Duke Rape Case” photo lineup, all photos were of players from the Lacrosse team, and the cops knew it, there were no wrong answers (except for the guy she chose who was out of town that night).
There is, generally, a right to counsel during a line up. Meaning that, if you’re put in a line up because you’re a suspect, your attorney has a right to observe the witness as the witness is observing the line up. This is intended to create fairness, so that the police won’t suggest the “right” answer, or, if they do, your attorney can cross examine the police and the witness about it (which necessarily creates attorney-as-witness issues should impeachment be necessary, but that’s an issue for another day).
There is, generally, no right to counsel during a photo line up. Meaning that, if you’re in a photo line up because you’re a suspect, the cop and the witness go into a room together, and when they come out, somehow the witness has identified a suspect from the line up. It’s a very “black box” procedure. There is no observer to assist in ensuring fairness.
This seems like a decent article about the issue.
Thus, while line ups still take place, there are constitutional issues at play that dictate how frequently they happen, and whether there are other, more preferred methods that law enforcement can use.
Wow, that sounds surreal. I’m a little confused though, if you had really been involved how could they let the “accomplice” “take the rap on his own”? Was the witness confused as to how many perpetrators there were? Did they know all along you weren’t guilty and were using you to get the guy to confess?
The police thought I was the guilty party at first. When they caught the second guy in the parking lot with burglary tools in hand, they, I assume, realized their mistake. Rather than admit they messed up, the cops tried to make it seems as though they were doing me a favor by letting me go.
SSG Schwartz
Gotcha. So they were just assholes. :rolleyes:
As far as I know. (I tend to sleepwalk.)
I picked someone out of a line-up in Texas one time.