As many as 2.4 million people in the United States are being held in prison, while around 100,000 of them could potentially be innocent. As useful as it may be, visual memory is one of the biggest cause of false identification that can lead to putting the wrong person in prison. Eyewitness’s identifications can greatly sway both police and juries. The downfall of visual memory can rise as an eyewitness is told something that may change the way they have seen something from before. Most memory errors can either fall in one of two categories, either completely failing to recall an event or have an inaccurate recollection.
One of the biggest downfalls of visual memory is due to blurred memory. Images in our minds are never as clear as an actual perception. Such as trying to recall something in your mind, you may have a harder time visualizing it in detail than you actually have seen it. Color can also cause problems when recalling things as well. People mostly remember the typical colors such as red, green, blue, and etc. So, when they see an orange-red car, they may morally remember it as a perfect red car, which is where the problems can occur. If you see someone rob a store in a yellow-green car but its dark out. Then try to recall your memory in a court room and say the wrong color, then you could have …show more content…
As it plays a part in more than 70% of convictions changed through DNA testing across the nation, eyewitness misidentification is one of the most contributing variables to convictions. One article by the U.S. Department of Justice says DNA can be used one of two ways in crime scenes, one in which using a sample of the person’s DNA and comparing it to evidence at a crime scene. Another way to use this solution is by using the evidence from a crime scene when a suspect has not been identified yet and can be compared to offender’s
One of the biggest downfalls of visual memory is due to blurred memory. Images in our minds are never as clear as an actual perception. Such as trying to recall something in your mind, you may have a harder time visualizing it in detail than you actually have seen it. Color can also cause problems when recalling things as well. People mostly remember the typical colors such as red, green, blue, and etc. So, when they see an orange-red car, they may morally remember it as a perfect red car, which is where the problems can occur. If you see someone rob a store in a yellow-green car but its dark out. Then try to recall your memory in a court room and say the wrong color, then you could have …show more content…
As it plays a part in more than 70% of convictions changed through DNA testing across the nation, eyewitness misidentification is one of the most contributing variables to convictions. One article by the U.S. Department of Justice says DNA can be used one of two ways in crime scenes, one in which using a sample of the person’s DNA and comparing it to evidence at a crime scene. Another way to use this solution is by using the evidence from a crime scene when a suspect has not been identified yet and can be compared to offender’s