NCJ Number
94746
Journal
Journal of the Forensic Science Society Volume: 24 Issue: 3 Dated: (May/June 1984) Pages: 165-175
Date Published
1984
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Recent years have seen a growth in experimental studies by psychologists on the accuracy of eyewitness evidence. Attempts to apply this new knowledge to police practice and legal process have taken rather different forms in the United States and Britain.
Abstract
In the United States, psychologists have appeared as expert witnesses at trials in which eyewitnesses evidence played a crucial role, a growing but controversial procedure. In Britain, legal precedents have precluded such testimony and psychologists have sought other, more indirect, methods of influencing law and practice. Examples are drawn from the author's own experience to show how research findings can indirectly influence the attitudes of the Judiciary, the general public and the police. The value of such confrontations between law and psychology are emphasized. Psychological research becomes more responsive, realistic and reliable while legal procedures and practices become more closely aligned with the cognitive capacities of the human observer. (Publisher abstract)