Measures of lineup fairness: Do they postdict identification accuracy?

Various measures have been proposed to test the fairness of lineups (Doob & Kirshenbaum, 1973; Malpass, 1981, Wells, Leippe and Ostrom, 1979). In thre e experiments, we examined the relationship of identification accuracy to m easures of lineup bias (proportion of mock witness choices, defendant bias, functional size) and lineup size (effective size, number of acceptable lin eup members). Lineup bias measures successfully postdict false positive cho ices, but only for some lineup procedures. Lineup size measures rarely post dict false positive decisions. Lineup fairness measures do not postdict fal se identifications from sequential lineups. Implications for measuring and reporting lineup fairness in court are discussed. Copyright (C) 1999 John W iley & Sons, Ltd.