WEAPON FOCUS

Question 1

WEAPON FOCUS

Answer 1

• This refers to an eye witness’s concentration of a weapon to the exclusion of other details of a crime.
• In a crime where an weapon is involved, it is not unusual for a witness to be able to describe the weapon in much more detail than the person holding it.

Question 2

STRESS/THREAT IN WEAPON FOCUS

Answer 2

• psychologists believe that eye witnesses to violent crimes, especially in crimes where the perpetrator threatens the witness with a weapon are usually unable to recollect or give accurate details about the crime due to the arousal state that is induced by the presence of the weapon

Question 3

ATTENTION/UNUSUALNESS IN WEAPON FOCUS

Answer 3

• Participants in weapon-present conditions display poorer memory for other details surrounding the weapon such as the perpetrator holding the weapon.
• Attention accounts suggests that the participants spend more time looking and, therefore attending to the weapon that they do to other details