Replicating Camera Perspective Bias in the Japanese Justice System

Abstract

The camera perspective of recorded video interrogations has been shown to influence judgments concerning confession voluntariness; this is a phenomenon known as camera perspective bias (CPB), originally reported by Lassiter and Irvine (1986). When comparing perspectives where the suspect is visible (suspect-focused), the detective is visible (detective-focused), and both are visible (equal-focused), the perceived voluntariness of a confession was greatest under the suspect-focused condition and lowest under the detective-focused condition. However, research conducted under the Japanese recording style by Nakata et al. (2018), using a dual-presentation format, yielded inconsistent results, possibly because of insufficient statistical power. To address this issue, our study investigated the occurrence of CPB under the Japanese recording style with sufficient power. In Experiment 1, we aimed to replicate Nakata et al.'s (2018) study using the same mock interrogation materials. In Experiment 2, we aimed to replicate the original study conducted under the Japanese recording style. However, we did not find any evidence supporting the presence of CPB. These results suggest that CPB may not be robust, at least under the Japanese recording style.