False Memory In Eyewitness Testimony

Eyewitness testimony has been discussed to be one of the most arguable sources to be used in the jury system, especially in its reliability. The podcast series “Serial” presented by Sarah Koenig, has illustrated a crime case back in 1999, which is still a mystery until now, contained many perceptions indicating the reliability of memory in eyewitness testimony. The suspect of the crime is Adnan Syed, a seventeen-year-old high school student who is also the victim’s ex-boyfriend. There were many secondary pieces of evidence such as the cell phone records, the story between Adnan and the victim, Hae Min Lee, and so on that have proved him to be the true culprit. Additionally, the evidence that most of the jurors rely on, which is also the evidence that pushes Adnan into jail is …show more content…
There is a high probability of people experience false memory while testifying the truth. In the discussion of false memory in eyewitness testimonies in the Literature Review, there are several elements that affect memory’s reliability: interviewing techniques, missing of information and conformity. In Adnan’s case, the eyewitnesses may initially endure false memory due to interviewing techniques; their memories in general have been filling in with new materials from the police and the prosecutors. After that, their brains deliberately and unconsciously conceive the information as it was what they truly remembered. Then, the moment when people heard the majority of opinions agree on a certain perspective, which in here is “Adnan Syed is the one who killed Hae Min Lee”, they will conform and impetuously believe that these are from what they observed. Not to mention that this tendency happens would also because there is no physical evidence. Consequently, eyewitness testimonies should not be used in Adnan Syed’s