Eyewitness Testimony, Helpful or Hinderance

The reliability if an eyewitness testimony is questionable. The witness may be so certain that the person that thy are pointing out is one hundred per cent the suspect or they could be so certain when it comes to retelling the incident, although these people are so sure on what it is they are doing, their testimony cannot always accurate. Due to the lack of accuracy with eyewitness

While the cognitive interview does prove to be effective in increasing the amount of accurate information elicited from witnesses of crimes, it does not necessarily increase the credibility of eyewitness testimony by reducing memory error and confabulations. The cognitive interview has been shown to elicit more information than the standard interview, but the two types do not differ on incorrect information or confabulations

There has been considerable interest and study in the accuracy or inaccuracy of the use of eyewitness testimonies in the current criminal justice system. Results collated by several studies add to the bulk of literature suggesting that the current usage of eyewitness testimony by the legal system is far from ideal. Currently, high emphasis is being placed on reviewing and reconsidering eyewitness accounts (Leinfelt, 2004). In particular, recent DNA exoneration cases have substantiated the warnings of eyewitness identification researchers by showing that mistaken eyewitness identification was the largest single factor contributing to the conviction of innocent people (Wells & Olson, 2003). In this essay, the use of eyewitness testimony in the criminal justice system will be explored, with a particular focus on the impreciseness of this practice.

Eyewitness misidentification can pose a serious threat in forensic evidence. Eye witness testimony can easily be tampered with due to words or phrases used. Bias is a major issue in identification especially if the police officer uses suggestive tones to portray whom they believe is the suspect. Some witnesses will change their opinion when they hear new information of the suspect. A study has shown that words can play a major impact in the witness' mind and cause them to recall false information. False information can also stem from human memory, age, distance, and how long it took before a witness could recall the information. It has been shown that due to the confidence that a witness may have, it could impact the court systems' reliability on the witness; however, there are several solutions that can be done to prevent misidentification in the court of law. Some examples that can be done are blind administration, lineup composition, instructions, confidence statements, and

However, factors such as interactions with other witnesses and the influence of media outlets cannot be accounted for. In addition, the small sample size of 13 participants means the results are not as reliable and cannot be generalised to the population at large. One possible factor which may influence the results is that witnesses were within close proximity to the events which transpired which can influence memory as well as not being applicable to many crimes whereby the witnesses only see part of the crime or a shadow of the perpetrator. An alternative explanation would be that flashbulb memory was at work here.

First, the human memory does not record all information like a video recorder. Mistaken eyewitness testimony is one of the major causes of wrong conviction. Events of crimes, will have so much stress or focus on a weapon, than the face of criminal (Wrongful Convictions , n.d.). The victim’s or eyewitness’s memory can be changed with an easy simple suggestion. Police procedure dealing with key witnesses by a “show up”. This is showing the suspect in a physical or a picture line up. The confidence of accuracy of identification and exhibited by the witness is a “crucial determinant of believability” by jurors (Furman, 2003). The best result of eyewitness testimony is taken identification immediately. The

Eyewitness Identification may be more reliable than we believe, if they are handled and assessed correctly. Eyewitness testimonies are often used by law enforcement officers to identify suspects and play a huge role in getting convictions. If witnesses identify the wrong person, an innocent man could be punished for something they had no involvement in. There are many theories to explain why witnesses may identify the wrong person as the perpetrator of a crime. The different ways we retrieve memories affects what we remember. Other theories have to deal with how lineups or photo arrays are displayed to the witness and the effect they have on the result. All of the different theories of how our memories can be influenced, cause people to argue

The article, When I Witnesses Talk, covers the issue of eyewitness testimonies and their reliability with memory conformity. Often when two people experience the same event they both have very different recollections of the occurrence. One event within the journal article incorporates the murder of Jill Dando, within this investigation there was a lineup where 16 witnesses were asked to identify the suspect, where only 1 of the 16 witnesses recognized him. The police conducted a second lineup where for example one witness stated that they were 95% sure that the suspect that they identified was at the scene of the crime, yet in the original lineup that person was unable to identify anyone from the lineup. One key piece of information was discovered,

Eyewitness testimony is not a reliable source of honest information for a number of serious yet often overlooked

A lawyer may use the research that shows eye witness’s memory for details of crimes contains significant errors when evaluating their testimonies to show that they may be confused or lying. Eye witnesses are unreliable because when they are held under pressure they tend to forget the important details. “When a criminal perpetrator displays a knife or gun, a witness pays less attention to other details of the crime making them less likely to recall what actually occurred.” (pg. 223) This means the lawyer could state that the eye witness was too distracted by the danger of their life rather than watching what actually happened. “One reason eyewitnesses are prone to memory-related errors is that the specific wording of question posed to them by

Eyewitness identification and testimony play a huge role in the criminal justice system today, but skepticism of eyewitnesses has been growing. Forensic evidence has been used to undermine the reliability of eyewitness testimony, and the leading cause of false convictions in the United States is due to misidentifications by eyewitnesses. The role of eyewitness testimony in producing false confessions and the factors that contribute to the unreliability of these eyewitness testimonies are sending innocent people to prison, and changes are being made in order to reform these faulty identification procedures.

When a crime is committed, one of the most important evidences for convincing jurors to make the decision is witness evidence. Witnesses in crimes have also been a crucial part on determining the final verdict. However, child witness testimony should not be allowed due to the harm that it inflicts on children. The article between a rock and a hard place: Why hearsay testimony may be a necessary evil in child sexual abuse cases by Watters, T., Brineman, J., & Wright, S. compares the positive and negative of using hearsay testimony instead of child testimony. The authors argues that the benefits outweighs the cost.

The journal Does Eyewitness Memory Research Have Probative Value for the Courts? explains that eyewitnesses have been giving testimony in English-speaking courts since the late 16th century. Expert testimony on eyewitness memory, however, is relatively recent and still an infrequent event. One of the main reasons why courts

Someone who physically see something occur and can give a description of it is called an eyewitness. Eyewitness testimonies are often used in court cases to describe what happened during the crime. In many cases the judges values eyewitness testimonies because they were there and experienced it. An eyewitness testimony is a good source of information but many factors can affect the witness. In this essay I will discuss an eyewitness testimony in a well covered court

It is of great importance to ensure that eyewitness identification of suspect’s can be as accurate and reliable as possible, especially considering the frequency and importance of its use. Factors that affect the accuracy of eyewitness identification must be addressed and ameliorated to avoid future miscarriages of justice (i.e. prosecuting the wrong person). Whilst law enforcements may not have