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Accuracy Of Eyewitness

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Recommended: The reliability of eyewitness testimony

The legal system is in need of the assistance of experts when evaluating the reliability of evidence given by eyewitnesses. Caution on the part of the jurors, when considering the accuracy of eyewitness accounts, should exercise focus on factual events as opposed to emotionally charged portrayals. Eyewitnesses who express confidence over their recollection of the events are not significantly more accurate and Arkowitz & Lilienfeld (2009) recommend educating presiding jurors over the dynamics of eyewitness accounts and the uncertainties that surround the testimonies of eyewitnesses. They also recommend the use and adherence to a set of rules during the identification of suspects to increase the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies. In their study, Benton et al. (2006) found that the eyewitness experts, the law enforcement professionals, and the judges …show more content…

The conclusions that were drawn from the study were that there was insufficient knowledge regarding the memory of eyewitnesses, which prevented an accurate account of the setting. The disagreement between the jurors, judges and law enforcement professionals demonstrates the necessary caution, which should be exercised when considering testimonies from eyewitnesses. Looking at this study it is evident that in less than half of all court cases the testimony of the witnesses was accurate enough to provide an account of events. This is obviously problematic in that it brings into question the validity of the justice system as a whole.

In regards to understanding the importance of decision-making in people there has been careful study and experimentation. Among the notable ideas produced by researchers in this department, is a study produced by

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Her earliest studies of eyewitness testimony addressed several issues: when someone sees a crime or accident, how accurate is his or her memory? These studies led Loftus to ask what happens when witness are questioned by police officers, and what if those questions are suggestive (Loftus, 2003). For instance, when Loftus began showing people films of traffic accidents, she found that a question such as “How fast were the cars going when the smashed into each other?” led to higher estimates of speed than a more neutral question that used the verb “hit”. Moreover, the “smashed” question led more people to falsely remember seeing broken glass when there was none.

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The description of the Lockerbie bombing may provide image on how lengthy and complicated an investigation and a trial process could be. Eyewitness would have to go through repeated interviews. The purpose of this procedure is to assess the consistency and accuracy of the testimony. Unfortunately, it is often not realized that repeated interview may also have a negative effect on the quality of the testimony given. A study by Sharps, Herrera, Dunn, and Alcala investigated the effect of repeated questioning in the format based of police procedure (2012).

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Context consists of such factors as emotion and environment, and it is necessary to recreate those factors in order to access the memory that has been naturally primed to be recalled in reference to them (Cutler, Penrod, Martens, 629). Thus, when addressing these identification errors made by eyewitnesses and when trying to fix them it is essential that the officials involved in the criminal justice system who are questioning the witnesses “reinstate the context surrounding an event” (Cutler, Penrod, & Martens, 629). In other words, eyewitness identification errors need to be fixed, as well as discrepancies of reliability and accuracy within a jury and among the jury members. Furthermore, authors Kovera and Borgida discuss how social psychologists are not allowed in the courtrooms even though that would be very beneficial as they can share the knowledge of these phenomena that can often lead to injustices (1376). Perhaps the first step to more forcefully addressing and working on these influential estimator and system variables as well as jury biases will be to change that rule.

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