Looking down a Gun Barrel: Person Perception and Violent Crime

Data from police reports showed the perception of a criminal assailant (as indicated by the completeness of description) is dependent on several variables related to characteristics of the crime and the victim. Taken from the perspective of person perception, these data suggest that perceiving and describing an object “in the field” may be influenced by a variety of conditions such as type of offense and the spatial and temporal characteristics of the act. Moreover, certain types of victims possessed differential capabilities for making identifications which might lead to an arrest.