NCJ Number
159775
Date Published
1995
Length
300 pages
Annotation
This book reviews the empirical research that bears on the adequacy of procedural safeguards designed to protect defendants from erroneous convictions that result from mistaken eyewitness identification.
Abstract
After summarizing the research on the accuracy of eyewitness identification, the authors examine diverse factors that influence identification accuracy and review recent research on the effectiveness of commonly used safeguards. The body of literature converges on the conclusion that traditional safeguards such as presence of counsel at lineups, cross- examination, and judges' instructions are ineffective against mistaken eyewitness identification. Expert psychological testimony on eyewitness memory, designed to educate the jury about how memory processes work and how eyewitness testimony should be evaluated, shows much greater promise of protection against mistaken identifications and erroneous convictions. Expert testimony could impart new knowledge to jurors, who could then use this new knowledge in their assessments of eyewitness reliability. Expert testimony on eyewitness dynamics could also activate knowledge that jurors already possess but fail to use when making their reliability assessments. Research shows that in rating the strength of both the prosecution's and defense's cases, jurors who heard expert testimony on eyewitness reliability gave more weight to the witnessing and identification conditions than did jurors who heard no expert testimony. Thus, without expert testimony, jurors apparently are insensitive to the factors that influence eyewitness identification accuracy. Expert testimony improves sensitivity without affecting jurors' overall level of skepticism about the identification. 299 references, tables, figures, and name and subject indexes