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Gone but Not Forgotten

1990; Society for Science and the Public; Volume: 138; Issue: 20 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/3975097

1943-0930

Bruce Bower,

Crime, Deviance, and Social Control

D onald M. Thomson, an Australian psychologist and lawyer, undoubtedly will never forget the day 15 years ago when he walked into a Sydney police station on routine courtrelated business and was arrested for assault and rape in a weird turn of events worthy of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. evening before his arrest, Thomson appeared on a local television program, where he discussed psychological research on eyewitness testimony and how people might best remember the faces of criminals observed during a robbery As he spoke, a Sydney woman watching the show was attacked, raped and left unconscious in her apartment. When she awoke several hours later, she called the police and named Thomson as her assailant. following day, after Thomson's arrest, the woman confidently selected him as the perpetrator from a lineup of possible rapists at the police station. Thomson, of course, professed his innocence. The police didn't believe me at first, he recalls, I had appeared on a live television show when the crime occurred, so I had a good alibi. Officials quickly dropped the charges when they realized the woman had unwittingly substituted Thomson's televised face for that of her attacker. She had apparently watched my television appearance very closely, but it's not clear if she ever actually saw her assailant's face, says Thomson, now at Monash University in Clayton, Australia. real rapist was never apprehended.