Eyewitness identification

Eyewitness Identifications play a major role in convictions. However sometimes the reliability of an eyewitness identification can have questionable accuracy. With Eyewitnesses being wrong for as many as one in every four, they are still considered one of the primary pieces of evidence against a suspect. An Eyewitness in court Identifying a possible suspect is one of the most strongest pieces of evidence to convince a jury. The only thing that can convince a jury more then an individual actually pointing out a suspect saying they were the ones they saw at the scene of the crime is DNA. There are multiple reasons an eyewitness can have a mistaken identity, the most coming being that it is likely they were under a high amount of stress at the…

As we have often seen in movies and television shows depicting the criminal justice system, an eyewitness is shown picking a culprit out of a police lineup. However, what movies and television shows do not address is how often mistakes are made with eyewitness identifications. In actual police lineups, eyewitness accounts are relied upon in our criminal justice system as a key tool to identify, convict, and charge individuals. The hope is that these identifications are accurate. Eyewitness…

A pool of statements concerning eyewitness identification issues, including statements used by Kassin et al. Loftus , was generated. From this initial pool a multiple choice questionnaire was developed. The eyewitnesses topics selected for inclusion were based on ratings of reliability supplied in the Kassin et al. "Do you think this phenomenon is reliable enough for psychologists to present in courtroom testimony?" Topics with levels of agreement among experts below 90% with respect to…

Eyewitness identification relies upon the eyewitness memory and the ability for him or her to retain that information and reporting it straight to the police. Memory is considered as evidence because information is being gathered and encoded in memory. Over time the storage holds in the encoded information in the brain until retrieval occurs so the brain can have access to the information. Although memory is not accurate, errors can occur throughout the process of encoding, storage, or…

PSY 370 Eyewitness Identification The overall aspect of eyewitness identification is questionable and has been argued over whether or not it’s plausible and accurate when brought into trials or experiments. Often time’s witnesses are under extreme conditions when their testimonies of events are needed. One question that comes to mind is, due to wrongful convictions found after DNA testing; will eyewitness identification be accurate enough to overturn a wrongful conviction? In a high stressful…

Gender Difference and Line Up Procedure of Eyewitness Testimony Eyewitness testimony is the most common form of evidence in criminal cases and it has extreme important influence on many aspects of the conviction for criminal. Every year, approximately 77,000 suspects are identified by eyewitnesses in American trials (Denholtz, T. L., & McDonough, E. A., 2015). After a century of researching on eyewitness identification testimony, psychologists have reached a consensus that eyewitness testimony…

INTRODUCTION Eyewitness testimony, which depends on the precision of human memory, enormously affects the result of a trail. For instance, In 1984, American College Student Jennifer Thompson was assaulted at knifepoint by a man who burst into her dorm. Amid her difficulty, Jennifer focused on everything about her aggressor so she could later precisely identify him. Soon thereafter, she worked with law enforcement to make a precise representation out of an attacker. A couple days after the fact…

Before DNA evidence an eyewitness testimony was a pivotal turning point in a case and often the only evidence offered to identify a suspect. The most common method of identification of an eyewitness’s account is a line up. These come in different forms from: verbal, pictures, to actual people present in a room. The idea behind these varied forms of identification allows less bias if someone had only had one sense to identify a suspect. For example: someone who was blindfolded could use a verbal…

Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony Evidence based eyewitness identification has been acknowledged for a while now. It is known for its stubborn suggestion to inaccuracy and sensitivity. Recognizing unfamiliar faces is actually what eyewitness identification is all about. A person as the eyewitness should remember factors of intrinsic, (built-in) and extrinsic (outward) memory; which is the procedure for their memory, on the contrary it can be misleading evidence. Lineups are part of…

If you have been charged with a criminal offense in Pennsylvania, or elsewhere, then you know that your arrest may have been based on eyewitness testimony. Identifications and testimony given by eyewitnesses have long been considered one of the most reliable types of evidence. More and more, however, it has been shown that eyewitness recall might not be as accurate as it was once thought to be. In fact, Science magazine reports that eyewitness testimony was the basis for approximately 75 percent…