Category: Eyewitness Testimony

  • Eyewitness Misidentification: Causes and Measures to Minimize It

    Mistaken eyewitness identifications have contributed to approximately 75% of false convictions. Meaning that more than 100 people each year could be falsely convicted of violent or sexual crimes because of these false accusations from witnesses (Garrett, 2011). Eyewitness misidentification is believed to be the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide which are later overturned…

  • Eyewitness Testimony: Definition, Importance and Influencing Factors

    In this paper, I am going to talk about eyewitness statements. I will discuss what they are and why they are important, as well as analyzing and evaluating two different influences on eyewitness testimonies. The two influences which I will discuss are misleading information and anxiety. Firstly, what are eyewitness testimonies? Well, an eyewitness testimony…

  • Eyewitness Testimony and Its Reliability

    The term ‘eyewitness’ is a legal term that refers to an account by people of an event that has been witnessed. The testimony is slowly being treated less and less credible because DNA evidence is becoming more accessible and accurate memory testing reveals the errors of your memory. The eyewitness testimony involving criminal justice is…

  • Advantages and Disadvantages of Eyewitness Testimony

    Any statement made by an eyewitness, a sworn statement or oath, which is written either on affidavit or paper done in court testimony, is eyewitness testimony. It is the main researching field in human memory and cognitive psychology. Eyewitnesses are only acceptable if the story they tell is consistent, comprehensible, and cohesive. Many psychological factors…

  • Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony

    On July 17, 1982, a young woman was raped by a black man in Virginia, who approached her on a stolen bicycle, and beat her, threatened her with a gun, and raped and sodomized her. After reporting the crime, due to the perpetrator mentioning that he had a white girl at home and was black,…