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Psychological Issues Used in Prosecutors Cases

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In this paper I’m going to discuss the psychological issues that are used in prosecutors cases such as eyewitness identification, issues that have led to the wrongful convictions of defendants, and what is done to overturn these wrongful convictions. I will also start by defining eyewitness identification. Eyewitness identification is a person whose identification by sight of another person may be relevant in a criminal proceeding. (GS_15A-284.52.)

Eyewitness identification is a major issue in today’s society. Eyewitness identification has become a very faulty issue because of different estimator variables such as; weapons focus, suggestive identification, and human memory. Most times when crimes are committed suspects tend to use a weapon such as a bat, knife or gun. When weapons are used victims focus their attention more on the weapon than the actual suspect. Due to weapons focus victims never really get a chance to take a good look at the perpetrator face.

The second estimator variable is the human mind can only remember so much. Human memory can be contaminated, lost or destroyed like physical evidence. (Goldstein, A. M. & Weiner, I. B. 2003) Human memory is rarely accurate on things that place especially when dealing with stressful events. When dealing with stressful events the victim usually picks out the filler in the line up or out of a photo array than the actual suspect. Human memory is a key factor in why eyewitness identification is very faulty.

The third

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