Eyewitness Testimoy And Regression Analysis

From what I have concluded from the two articles listed below, I do not think eyewitness testimony is a reliable source nor should it be used to convict someone simply because mistakes can be easily made. (Clare) 2012 states that mistakes can often be made due to high stress levels, the act of seeing violence and even the display of a weapon can alter a memory of who the witness truly is. Another major issue with misidentification has to do with different racial profiles, seeing other people at different times, thinking they may have been involved in the crime, and or exposure to how long the event took place. (Clare, 2012). Eyewitness testimony still remains to be widely used throughout the court systems unless there appears to be a flaw within the evidence collected. (Clare, 2012) Such as the different variables that come into play when creating a lineup of suspects for the witness to choose from, lineups with intense racial differences single out individuals among other things as well such as the sizing of the profile pictures, and the amount of times a picture is shown. Pictures that are shown more than once almost encourage the witness to select that individual, which in turn means the Justice System can kind of control who they …show more content…
Due to the increased misidentifications of eyewitness testimony, other ways of gaining evidence are more favorable now due to their accuracy such as DNA testing. (Duara, 2014) Many prosecutors find this to be unfair because they feel as if their ways of convicting people are being attacked. (Duara, 2014) The problem is many people have been wrongfully accused and punished for crimes they did not commit due to misidentification in eyewitness testimony, fortunately due to DNA testing we are more accurately able to test evidence in such ways. (Clare,