Investigating The Crime Of A Criminal Trial

crime scene could be analyzed and compared with a sample from a suspect. A match could place

There are a number of factors can reduce the accuracy of eyewitness identifications for example; extreme witness stress at the crime scene or during the identification process, presence of weapons at the crime; because they can

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

508). It’s not uncommon for a witness to go through photos than spend time going through lineups where a witness or victim has to actually see the suspect to make a positive identification. It’s hard to correctly recognize suspects in photographs that were taken at the time of their incarceration; therefore, these photographs will not be included in the photograph identification session. Although the pictures of the suspects should be similar in nature, but the arrangement of the photos should be presented in such a way that an offender could be identifiable out amongst the other photos (Hall, 2015). Officers can arrange the photographs in different ways. One way is to arrange them at the same time to where as a “two by three matrix” which has been given the

This is used when someone has evidence that it wasn’t them by showing where they were or when they were with someone else at the time of the crime.

In the late 19th-century research on eyewitness, testimony memory began, psychologists had been studying memory, and the findings became useful for forensic psychology and law. A central issue with studying eyewitness memory and testimony is the ecological validity of lab studies. There are relatively few ‘real world’ eyewitness memory studies, and that causes problems for determining the generalizability of findings in eyewitness memory. Coined by Wells (1978) estimator variables are present at the time of a crime and cannot be changed (i.e. witness characteristics and the type of offence) and system variables are factors that can be manipulated to affect eyewitness accuracy (i.e. line-up procedures and interview types). The system variables

In this article, Edens and Cox suggest that the prosecution in capital murder trials produce evidence regarding antisocial personality disorder, sociopathy, and psychopathy. ASPD, sociopathy, and psychopathy all have a long history in the criminal justice system. Mental health experts are called in to evaluate the suspect during sentencing, to determine future violent behaviors, and if there is any potential for rehabilitation. In their research, they found little systematic research on how much of an impact ASPD, sociopathy, and psychopathy have on a case outcome. They decided to carry out a survey at a national conference to measure how frequently this evidence was produced. They found that ASPD evidence was used more than sociopathy and

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,

Previous research has provided evidence that there is a rather frequent occurrence of false identifications of innocent people in line-ups (Lindsay, Wells, Rumpel, & Campbell, 1981). Eyewitness memories are often distorted by inaccurate memories of how accurate their original identification was (Wells & Bradfield, 1998). Often the eyewitness will be unsure at the time of the line-up identification, but when recalling the identification process they often give a confident positive response (Wells & Bradfield, 1998). A confirming-feedback comment can have a pronounced effect on the reconstructing of the witnessing and identification process. The comment may not only inflate recollections but also have an impact on the eyewitness confidence (Wells

Robert Jones observed the accused assaulting (stabbing) the victim with a deadly weapon. An individual who overhears or sees a crime will be able to help identify the suspected and will be able to testify against them in court (Anderson et al. 2013, p 5). Case R. v. P. (D.J.), 2002 had a witness step forward and swore that the defendant she had picked out of the police lineup is, in fact, the man who she saw committing the robbery.

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.

Technology Used by a Police Officer In the scenario provided, a police officer is investigating a burglary. At the scene, he finds drops of blood, a hammer, shoeprints, and a handprint. Using technology will provide the police officer the resources he needs to use this evidence to help identify and apprehend the suspect.

The type of identification procedures that occurred in this scenario is show-up. A show-up consists of an exhibition of a suspect to a witness or victim of criminal identification (Hall, 2015). One-man show-ups, obviously, are more suggestive of guilt than lineups are. As such, they should be used with caution. Generally, a one-man show-up should occur soon after the crime. If there is time to organize a lineup, this is the preferable method of the identification procedure.

It is interesting that the crime scene can match the offender’s personality. If the crime scene contains either a body or obvious evidence, or both, it can be classified as a disorganized crime scene and law enforcement might want to look for suspects that have a disorganized lifestyle and don’t take care of their appearance.