Mistaken eyewitness identifications contributed to approximately 69% of the more than 375 wrongful convictions in the United States overturned by post-conviction DNA evidence, according to the Innocence Project.
• Inaccurate eyewitness identifications can confound
investigations from the earliest stages. Critical time is lost while police are
distracted from the real perpetrator, focusing instead on building the case
against an innocent person.
• Despite solid and growing proof of the inaccuracy
of traditional eyewitness ID procedures – and the availability of simple
measures to reform them – traditional eyewitness identifications remain among
the most commonly used and compelling evidence brought against criminal
defendants.
Traditional Eyewitness Identification Practices –
And Problems
• In a standard lineup, the lineup administrator
typically knows who the suspect is. Research shows that administrators often
provide unintentional cues to the eyewitness about which person to pick from
the lineup.
• In a standard lineup, without instructions from
the administrator, the eyewitness often assumes that the perpetrator of the
crime is one of those presented in the lineup. This often leads to the
selection of a person despite doubts.
• In a standard lineup, the lineup administrator may
choose to compose a live or photo lineup where non-suspect “fillers” do not
match the witness’s description of the perpetrator or do not resemble the
suspect. This can cause the suspect to stand out to a witness because of the
composition of the lineup. This unintentional suggestion can lead an eyewitness
to identify a particular individual in a photo array or lineup.
• In a standard lineup, the lineup
administrator may not elicit or document a statement from a witness
articulating their level of confidence in an identification made during the
identification process. A witness’s confidence can be particularly susceptible
to influence by information provided to the witness after the identification
process. Research shows that information provided to a witness after an
identification suggesting that the witness selected the right person can
dramatically, yet artificially, increase the witness’s confidence in the
identification. Therefore it is critically important to capture an eyewitness’s
level of confidence at the point in time that an identification is made.
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