How reliable is eyewitness testimony?
Bibliography
Eyewitness testimony in the media
- "Berrett-Molway Trial: 1934" Great American Trials: From Salem Witchcraft to Rodney King. Ed. Edward W. Knappman. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc., 1994. 372-75. Print.
- McLeod, Saul. "Eyewitness Testimony." Simply Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. <http://www.simplypsychology.org/eyewitness-testimony.html>.
- Sifakis, Carl. "Mistaken Identity." The Encyclopedia of American Crime. 2nd ed. Vol. 2. N.p.: Carl Sifakis, 2001. Print.
TV shows and movies that involve crime solving such as Castle and CSI often make eyewitness accounts look infallible by making it appear as though one witness can be the solution to an entire crime
- police cannot simply take an eyewitness account as evidence without first:
- making sure the process of gathering the account was not suggestive
- determining if the person giving the account is reliable
What is eyewitness testimony?
Example Case #1
Example Case #2
Awareness Test #1
Awareness Test #2
- A man named Hoag moved to Haverstraw, New York
- Got a wife, a job, and a large group of friends.
- 6 months later he left
- it was discovered that he was a bigamist and had another spouse.
- 2 years later a man named Parker was identified as Hoag and brought to trial.
- More than a dozen witnesses confirmed him to be Hoag
- including "his" boss and ex-wife.
- A woman reported being raped in a Chicago hotel.
- Said he was a big giant of a man at least 6 feet 3 inches in a bellhop's uniform"
- John E. Reid (who invented the polygraph) cleared 8 bellhops.
- When he asked the manager if there were any others, the manager said yes
- He hadn't sent the other one "because Shorty is Shorty".
- Reid tested Shorty, and got a confession.
- Shorty was 5 feet 2 inches.
- A witness is someone who saw a crime occur
- Eyewitness testimony is the account given by the witness(es) about what occured
- Examples:
- what the criminal looked like
- details about the crime scene
- what really happened
You're not the only one who missed something "obvious"
How can
eyewitness testimony be unreliable?
WHY EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY IS USED
Eyewitness testimony can be affected by many outside factors.
- Anxiety/Stress
- the amount of stress an event causes may affect the memory of that event
- Reconstructive Memory
- memories can change to fit in with what the person "expects" to have happen
- Weapon Focus
- witnesses often remember weapons better than the people holding them
- Leading Questions
- the way police/attorneys phrase their questions can affect the way people answer
- Eyewitnesses were at the scene of the crime - they saw it happen
- They can provide valuable information about what the perpetrator looked like/ what really happened
- Can be used in court to help prove guilt or innocence