Does the oath enhance truth-telling in eyewitness testimony? Experimental Evidence

Nicolas Jacquemet (), Céline Launay (), Stéphane Luchini (), Danica Mijovic-Prelec (), Drazen Prelec (), Jacques Py (), Julie Rosaz () and Jason Shogren
Additional contact information
Céline Launay: CLLE, Université de Toulouse
Stéphane Luchini: Université Aix Marseille (Aix-Marseille School of Economics) et EHESS
Danica Mijovic-Prelec: MIT Neuroeconomics laboratory, Sloan School of Management
Drazen Prelec: MIT Neuroeconomics laboratory, Sloan School of Management
Jacques Py: CLLE, Université de Toulouse
Julie Rosaz: Burgundy School of Business

Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne from Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne

Abstract: Eyewitness testimony is the most powerful form of evidence in a court of law. Eyewitnesses affect both the odds of conviction and the severity of sentences of the guilty. But eyewitnesses also lie, and false testimony is the primarily cause of wrongful convictions. Most of the extant literature focuses on eyewitness reliability and credibility assessment, but very little is known about the efficiency of the main mechanism used in-field to foster eyewitness honesty: a solemn truth-telling oath–the most ancient and worldwide institution used in the solemn legal ceremony underpinning criminal cases. Herein we examine how the truth-telling oath actually affects the level of eyewitness deception. Using a controlled experimental test designed to address this question, we show that an eyewitness who is exogenously incentivized to lie and takes a solemn oath is significantly less likely to use deception. In contrast with the related literature focusing on the detection of lies, we show that an oath actually works to improvetru th-telling. The oath is not just ceremonial, it plays a key role in improving efficiency within the court

Keywords: Eye-witness testimony; Truth-telling oath; Controlled experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C9 H4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 2024-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
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https://hal.science/halshs-04855141

Related works:
Working Paper: Does the oath enhance truth-telling in eyewitness testimony? Experimental Evidence (2024)
Working Paper: Does the oath enhance truth-telling in eyewitness testimony? Experimental Evidence (2024)
Working Paper: Does the oath enhance truth-telling in eyewitness testimony? Experimental Evidence (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mse:cesdoc:24013

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