Eyewitness Testimony

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On many occasions, eyewitness accounts have been proven decisive in court for both defense and prosecution, and while these people are integral to the justice process, they are not impervious to fault. There is a significant growing body of research regarding the credibility of eyewitnesses and it can be recommended that principal players utilize caution. Researchers have been citing the failures of the human memory and producing studies, which have suggested that when witnesses are faced with significant factors, such as the interrogation method, that their reliability can be called into question. Some problematic issues that have been uncovered involve the length of time after which eyewitnesses recall the events surrounding a crime, factors involving peer pressure, and psychological factors that affect the accuracy of human memory. In addition to these factors, the credibility of witness accounts have also been marred by the marked mistakes that have occurred in past eyewitness testimonies, which have been used to wrongly convict innocent people. It is evident that information given by eyewitness accounts can be unreliable to the extent exemplified, and it is vital that jurors and judges exercise caution and restraint when considering eyewitness accounts based on past statistics and the fallibility …show more content…
Take for example the case of Kirk Bloodsworth who was accused of raping and murdering a nine-year-old girl in 1984. Following the court’s decision, Bloodsworth was regrettably condemned to the gas chamber. The decision of the court was influenced by various flawed testimonies provided by the eyewitness accounts of five people. (Arkowitz and Lilienfeld, 2009). Kirk Bloodsworth had to spend an inescapable nine years in incarceration before the DNA test proved that he was innocent. Clearly, it is important that the justice system does not base its final verdict merely on the testimony of

Eyewitness Testimony

The purpose of this study was to determine whether eyewitness testimony is easily influenced by cross-examination. In this article, the authors used previous studies to support their evidence. The first study that was used was carried out by Zajac, Gross, and Hayne, in their study they examined court transcripts of cross-examination regarding the complaints of sexual abuse in children ranging from the ages of 5-13 years. The children in this study easily complied with the questions that were…

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Eyewitness Testimony Case

has been disproving death row cases founded on eyewitness testimony. In their findings, 73% of their 235 overturned convictions were based on faulty eyewitness testimony (Innocence Project, 2012). Most of these inaccurate identifications are caused unknowingly or unconsciously. In eyewitness testimony, mistakes are frequently made. This creates a larger dilemma, since it is one of the most persuasive elements in a trial. Focusing on eyewitness testimony in criminal trials, jurors place importance…

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Eyewitness Testimony Analysis

In the informative essay “The Problem with Eyewitness Testimony,” Laura Englhardet explained the reasoning about why criminals shouldn’t be convicted on eyewitness only. Eyewitness testimony can make a deep impression on a jury, which is often exclusively assigned the role of sorting out credibility issues and making judgments about the truth of witness statements. I believe it is extremely important to be as correct as possible in your testimony considering judges will trust you and you could accidentally…

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Inaccurate Eyewitness Testimony

committing, and one eyewitness’ convincing testimony is all it takes for you to spend time behind bars. This scenario has unfortunately been the case for many individuals who have been wrongfully accused and convicted of crimes they did not commit. This is not to say that some defendants have not been accurately picked out for crimes committed, but there is staggering data showing that many have been inaccurately accused of crimes they are later charged with committing. Eyewitness testimony is one of the…

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Accuracy Eyewitness Testimony

The Accuracy Eyewitness Testimony in Children with Respect to the Investigator’s Feedback This paper seeks to investigate the accuracy of eyewitness testimony in children with respect to the investigator’s feedback. “Eyewitness testimony referred to as the statement provided by the people who were present at the time of any occurrence” (reference from book). For example, a bystander who gave a very precise description of the event and when he saw the robbery at a shopping mall (from the book). However…

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Eyewitness Testimony Essay

Eyewitness testimonies rely on our memory and cognitive ability as humans. These testimonies can be crucial during court cases, and could result in conviction. It is important that the testimony is accurate and reliable. For this reason, many people question whether or not a child should be able to testify as an eyewitness. There are multiple views with varying answers to this issue. One answer to this question is that children should not be able to testify as eye witnesses for any reason. Many people…

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Ronald Cotton Eyewitness Testimony

Eyewitness testimonies are often unreliable and yet they are usually the most incriminating "evidence" provided in court. In 1985, Ronald Cotton was convicted of the rape of two college students, one of which was Jennifer Thompson-Cannino. Thompson was determined to not only survive the horrifying experience, but to memorize every feature of her assailant so that she could ensure his imprisonment. At the time of the trial, DNA testing did not exist; most of the evidence presented against Cotton…

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Ronald Cotton Eyewitness Testimony

The case of ronald cotton is a powerful example that demonstrate that eyewitness testimony is not always reliable. Ronald cotton was wrongly convicted of the rape of Jennifer Thompson by means of the victim’s testimony before DNA analysis was widely used. What I find interesting is during the police interrogation, when Jennifer Thompson was going through the pictures ,she said it felt like she was taking the S.A.T exam. I think this was an odd comparison for a photo lineup because it only…

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Essay about Can Anxiety Affect Eyewitness Testimony?

concentration), whereas tasks demanding stamina or persistence may be performed better with higher levels of arousal (to increase motivation). In 1986 a study was conducted by Yuile and Cutshall where they assessed the level of arousal and accuracy of testimonies from 13 witnesses to robberies or murders. One general finding was that witnesses reporting higher levels of arousal recalled fewer facts correctly than those with lower levels, although those with very high arousal levels were better than those…

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Eyewitness Identification Process

since the early 1900’s. (Buckman, 2011) According to over 2,000 studies on eyewitness misidentification, of those witnesses that pick a suspect out of a lineup, about one-third of those identifications are incorrect. (Perez-Pena, 2010) Modern research has gained sophistication and continues to work to provide empirical evidence that will help identify factors that influence accuracy as well as ways to improve eyewitness identification accuracy. (Loftus, 1993) According to the most recent data…

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