Eyewitness Testimony Research Paper

Eyewitness testimony has long been viewed as important evidence in court cases. The general population believes eyewitness identification more than any other evidence, even if the witness account is conflicting with the other evidence presented. Studies show that eyewitness testimony is unreliable, and yet it is still considered the most important form of evidence. People think that if a person says they saw something then it must have happened. Currently there are no universal guidelines on how to obtain and present such evidence. The purpose of this paper is to explain why eyewitness testimony is unreliable, and discuss the proposed guidelines on how law enforcement agencies should gather identifications, as well how

Eyewitness testimonies are based on a person’s ability to recall what took place accurately. Memory research has proven that a person’s memory is not a recording but it is reconstructive. Loftus and Palmer’s study set out to prove that the memory could be reconstructed through the use of language.

The reliability if an eyewitness testimony is questionable. The witness may be so certain that the person that thy are pointing out is one hundred per cent the suspect or they could be so certain when it comes to retelling the incident, although these people are so sure on what it is they are doing, their testimony cannot always accurate. Due to the lack of accuracy with eyewitness

The impact of eyewitness testimony upon the members of a jury has been the subject of various research projects and has guided the policies formed by the federal government regarding its competent use in criminal matters (Wells, Malpass, Lindsay, Fisher, Turtle, & Fulero, 2000). Therefore, eyewitness studies are important to understand how

The social implication that have happened with a better understanding of eyewitness testimony are quite big. Because of the thousand and thousand of crime that have been made by people, we cant really trust everyone testimony of the situation. Because pretty much a conversation with someone else can easily mess every thing up. Which could suck for the person who is taken to jail because a of a eyewitness mistake. When the real criminal is out their actually doing more harm to others. Its actually scary to think how many individuals might be in jail for years of their life knowing that they had nothing to do with a crime that they weren’t even involved

How Reliable Are Eyewitnesses? For decades the court system has relied on eyewitness and someone’s statement in a lot of criminal cases. Loftus, states “just because someone says something confidently doesn’t mean it is true” (Bohannon, 2014). How does the criminal system allow juries, lawyers, and eyewitness to be responsible for someone else life. I realize they have college degrees and they are trained. However, how many have people being wrongfully accused and there are criminals who received a jail sentence they deserved.

This paper examines how complex automobile accident and our perception, recollection and verbalization may not be identical of the original event and interfere with the reconstruction of one’s memory which raises question about the integrity of accounts by eyewitness in a courtroom. The paper layouts two experiments with one hundred graduate students answering twenty-two questions and giving a brief description of a film that depicted a multiple automobile accident.

Eyewitness testimony is the evidence given by someone who has actually seen something occur, and can sometimes be very fallible. People will provide an interviewer with information to fit their own story. A lot of the time constructive memory is what is given. Many people do not recall what exactly happened so they fill in the blanks of the story with what they think might have happened.Interview EvaluationIn the first experiment students were split up into five groups and were asked at what speed did the cars come in contact. The other ways the question was asked was how fast were the cars going when they bumped, hit, collided, and smashed (Loftus, 2007). In the end, the students who were asked the question at what speed were the vehicles going when they came in contact replied with a speed much lower than the students asked at what speed were they vehicles going with they smashed into each other.

Eyewitness identification reliability has always been scrutinized by many people. The reliability issues can come not only from memory deficits but also from the way in which they are presented with a photo lineup. This study was designed to identify the differences, if they existed, between the two presentation methods of photo lineups. The sequential lineup presentation was originally designed to deter “[a] witness from making ‘relative judgments’ in which [they] compare lineup members with each other and then show a propensity to identify the person who looks most like their memory” (Wells 2). The study was conducted to help determine the most reliable way to present lineups to witnesses. The study was conducted using a software designed

References California Criminal Jury Instructions (2010). Volume 1, Series 300, Evidence (Eye Witness Testimony). Clark, S., & Godfrey, R.. (2009). Eyewitness identification evidence and innocence risk. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16(1), 22-42.

Evaluation of Research Into Eyewitness Testimony Eyewitness testimony investigates the accuracy of memory following a crime or an incident worth interrogating and the types of errors made in such situations. Sometimes eyewitness testimony can be unreliable, which can lead to horrific consequences in a court of law for example, hence many Psychologists have studied and theorized why this happens. One leading researcher on Eyewitness testimony is Elizabeth Loftus and her colleagues, in 1975, participants were shown an event by film of a car crash, the participants were split into 2 groups and ask questions on what they had just seen, Group 1 were asked questions that were consistent with the

The "Story of an eyewitness" by Jack london is a story of how the earthquake caused distruction for San Francisco. It tells us the conditions that San Francisco expirienced after the earthquake.

In The Story of an Eyewitness, Jack London uses the citizens of San Francisco in order to emphasize the socio-economic indifference amongst them while attempting to fight against the encroaching conflagrations that destroyed their homes.

Eye Witness Testimony The language used by the police when interviewing witnesses and barristers during a trial may influence answers given by witnesses, this language may affect initial perception and subsequent recall. Both of these effects are shown in the study by Loftus & Palmer {1974). My experiment into this field showed the leading question with the `verb` contained the information about what the answer should be, thus language can have a distorting effect on EWT, which can lead to inaccurate accounts of the witnessed account.

Eye-Witness Testimony Until now we have focused upon theoretical psychology that employ methods that are removed from real life. Neisser was one psychologist who criticized his fellow psychologists for concentrating too much on theoretical concepts and ignoring the practical issues involved about memory. It is memory from real life experiences that psychologists must concentrate on and one aspect of this is known as the eyewitness testimony. Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony -----------------------------------