Judges should strive to make sure the jury is informed of all of the identifications an eyewitness has made prior to the trial. Recently, up to 400 female pupils from around 30 schools were subjected to poisoning attacks in what is believed to be an attempt to stop them getting an education. This section will focus on the courts current treatment of eyewitness testimony. Two police officers thought the sketch resembled Miller, a man they had questioned a few days earlier. To do this, proper testing protocols that reduce chances of contamination need to be followed. With surprising ease, for example, participants in a memory experiment can be led to believe that they saw a stop sign when they actually saw a yield sign or that they became lost in a shopping mall as a child when no such experience actually occurred. Ernest Saunders only served 10 months of his sentence before being released. Perhaps one of the most striking examples of the flaws in eyewitness testimony is the case of Jerry Miller, who was convicted of rape, robbery and kidnapping in 1982. Please send suggestions to Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook. After the rape, with the victim now locked in the trunk, the rapist attempted to drive the womans vehicle out of the parking garage but was prevented from doing so by the two parking lot attendants who recognized the victims car and noticed that she was not driving it. But theyve hit a snag. The detective also admitted making a similar comment to at least one other witness. Similarly, a witness may mistakenly perceive the circumstances of a crime or event, such as a car accident. The FBI estimates that 521,196 of these arrests were for violent crimes.24 Accurate data on the number of crimes observed by eyewitnesses are not available. Episode 3: Eyewitnesses. In the sad case of the 1960 Starved Rock murders, there were EIGHT confessions by Chester Weger made to different people at different times, including a re-enactment of the crime at the scene covered by more than a dozen reporters/photographers. But eyewitnesses aren't always right, and poor investigative practices can make matters worse. Finally, a witness may have more difficulty making a correct identification when he and the suspect are of different races. 25 A. G. Goldstein, J. E. Chance, and G. R. Schneller, Frequency of Eyewitness Identification in Criminal Cases: A Survey of Prosecutors, 27(1) Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society: 71, 73 (January 1989). As with DNA evidence, eyewitness evidence needs to be safeguarded against contamination. Assessing confidence is critical because it provides direct information about the trustworthiness of the uncontaminated ID. It should be revived and approved. In Millers case, the two parking lot attendants were immediately suspicious when the victims car approached the ticket booth. Some courts have held it as an abuse of discretion for a trial judge to bar the defense from admitting expert testimony on eyewitness identification. 'This is not the way to conduct an interview. 13 See Timothy P. OToole & Giovanna Shay, Manson v. Brathwaite Revisited: Towards a New Rule of Decision for Due Process Challenges to Eyewitness Identification Procedures, 41 Val. The testimony of an eyewitness could make up for many shortcomings in a case, such as the lack of any actual physical evidence. John Worboys worked as a cab driver and was charged with sexually assaulting several of his female passengers. Readers speculate why, Letters to the Editor: Serious about the drought? Miller was placed in a lineup and one of the parking lot attendants positively identified Miller; the other parking lot attendant tentatively identified him. Blood and fingerprint evidence, per se, would not be deemed unreliable. The processes at play in Lydell Grants case are predictable and unfortunately common. After his conviction at Croydon Crown Court, several more women made allegations of sexual assault against him. But a closer examination of those witnesses testimonies reveals a few disconcerting factors: the earliest testimony from a witness came a month after the murders, and other testimony came nine, twelve months later. In the United States, more than 300 exonerations have resulted from postconviction DNA testing since 1989.26 According to the Innocence Project, at least one mistaken eyewitness identification was present in almost three-quarters of DNA exonerations.27 In many of these cases, eyewitness identification played a significant evidentiary role, and almost without exception, the eyewitnesses who testified expressed complete confidence that they had chosen the perpetrator. Therefore, when John Warboys applied for parole, an independent psychologist was instructed by his legal representative to assess his risk. Most of these witnesses personally knew Flowers, and many had grown up with him, lived in his same neighborhood. Because she had already servednine years and four months of her initial life sentence, she was released following the change of conviction. Having served 10 years in prison, the psychologist recommended his release from prison. For example, in cases where a mental disorder is an issue, the evidence of a psychiatrist may influence the conduct of legal proceedings, it may help to adduce medical evidence relevant to trial and may be the deciding factor between imprisonment and mental health treatment. In 1999, Sally Clark, a solicitor, was convicted of murdering her two infant sons (one in 1996 and the other in 1998) at Chester Crown Court. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Press Esc to cancel. Of course, he knew that Lydell Grant was the one under suspicion. Retrieved March, 2019. Sally Challens appeal demonstrated the importance of expert evidence in establishing the correct outcome for a mentally disordered offender. Nationally, more than 75% of convictions that have been overturned because of DNA evidence involved erroneous eyewitness testimony. The NRC found that police officers and detectives are frequently uninformed of what the best practices concerning gathering eyewitness testimony are. My Blog cases where eyewitnesses were right. Three of the eyewitnesses reported that the detective told them that they had picked the same person other people had, though the detective himself denied having made such statements. It is used to establish facts in a criminal investigation or prosecution. Well ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. Marilyn Stowe instructed a pathologist to review the medical notes of both infants. A full and fair examination of all the circumstances of the subject crime, and all the evidence involved, is necessary. 32 National Research Council, Identifying The Culprit: Assessing Eyewitness Identification 38, 4-8 (2014). As a result, witnesses who have received confirmatory feedback provide testimony that is highly persuasive to jurors. Police in some California counties use some of the methods recommended by the New Jersey court and by the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice. Instead evidence collected at the contaminated crime scene would probably be declared inadmissible. Some elements include the following: First, and most important of all, because the test itself contaminates memory, only the initial memory test provides uncontaminated results. The Manson admissibility test consists of two steps. 2023 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. Scientific best practices for conducting eyewitness lineups require that the person administering the lineup not know who the police suspect. Compiled by Ann Njarara, Bree Peilen, Daniel Neuman, Emory Cook, Linda Lin, and Perrin Lowrey, Introduction Few would doubt that under such conditions, DNA evidence is highly reliable. Jurors trust a confident eyewitness and believe they are telling the truth and that their testimony is accurate [1]. Document Witness Confidence and Videotape Witness Identifications. Recently, post-conviction DNA exonerations of innocent persons have dramatically highlighted the problems with eyewitness identifications. This decision attracted intense media attention and was seen to be a controversial decision due to the nature and severity of his offences. So are The Conversations authors and editors. Compared to administrators conducting double-blind lineups, these informed administrators are more likely to ask witnesses about the suspect and smile when witnesses are looking at the suspect rather than at another person in the lineup. Yet, based on, among other things, this powerful purported eyewitness evidence, Heidelberg was convicted. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy. The Louisiana Supreme Court remanded the case based on prosecutorial and police misconduct, including improper argument at the trial and failure to disclose the existence of exculpatory witnesses. It comes just two days after diplomats walked out of a speech given by the Iranian minister to the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva. During the tense interview, Amirabdollahian claimed Mahsa Amini - the 22-year-old who died after being arrested by morality police for failing to wear the hijab - was turned into a 'symbol' by protesters. A letter by UN Watch - a Geneva-based organization monitoring activities of the UN - urged all 193 members to leave the meeting. Expert evidence may be important in determining the right outcome. The witnesses trial testimony reveals a simple explanation for these high-confidence errors: All of the eyewitnesses received confirmatory feedback following their identification of Grant. Are you a scientist who specializes in neuroscience, cognitive science, or psychology? Not only do such statements inflate eyewitnesses confidence in the accuracy of their identification, but they lead them to falsely remember having been that confident all along. The first is in the classic My Cousin Vinny situation, where eyewitnesses simply believe they see something, despite not actually being capable of truly witnessing the event accurately. Knowledge awaits. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners. One might assume that Grant was the murderers unlucky doppelganger. If New Jersey can have statewide guidelines, so can California. Even if he allows it, he will have to instruct the jury about the variables that can lead to misidentification. Instead, they asked that the six eyewitnesses who originally testified against Grant respond to his claims of innocence. Thanks for reading Scientific American. However, Solicitor, Marilyn Stowe, had concerns about the expert evidence of Professor Meadow. Assistant Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University. In the Miller case, a. Published: 00:56 EST, 2 March 2023 | Updated: 01:01 EST, 2 March 2023. A Man Was Jailed For 20 Years Due To A Single Eyewitness Who Now Wants To Recant Antonio Mallet's conviction rested on testimony from one eyewitness who, in a new court filing, now says NYPD detectives assaulted him and threatened to lock him up if he didn't blame Mallet for the murder. Noxious fumes wafted into their classrooms, causing some to need hospital treatment after complaining of headaches, heart palpitations, lethargy and being unable to move. See here: Innocence Project, Eyewitness misidentification accessed on March 9, 2019. Judges should continue to allow expert testimony from social scientists on the general reliability of eyewitness testimony, so that jurors are informed about the strengths and weaknesses of eyewitness testimony as a practice. Opinion: Why does Mexicos president want to dismantle the democratic system that elected him? At his criminal trial, both parking lot attendants identified Miller as the perpetrator. Renowned Expert witnesses include doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and other professionals who are instructed to give expert opinions in legal proceedings. They found that when showing violent and non-violent crimes on videotape to subjects and then prompting them with questions later, the witnesses had more and more difficulty remembering certain details as the violence in the video went up.8. In 1932, Yale University law professor Edwin M. Borchard documented nearly seventy cases of miscarriage of justice caused by eyewitness errors in his book, Convicting the Innocent.22 2 Thirty Years of DNA Forensics: How DNA Has Revolutionized Criminal Investigations. CEN RSS, Chemical and Engineering News, 18 Sept. 2017. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. . Daryl G. Kimball and Frank von Hippel | Opinion. Although she was due to face further trial at the Central Criminal Court, on the basis of the expert evidence, the Crown accepted her plea to the lesser offence of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. A meta-analytic review of the effects of high stress on eyewitness memory, Law and Human Behavior 28.6 (2004), 687-706. During the meeting Amirabdollahian said Irans government was committed to upholding human rights. The sooner police, prosecutors and judges understand that fact, the better off we all will beincluding you, if you are ever incorrectly fingered by an eyewitness. There have been many famous expert witness cases. Alex Murdaugh's defense attorneys will deliver their closing arguments in his murder trial on Thursday as they seek to raise reasonable doubt about whether he killed his wife and son in 2021. 24 Federal Bureau of Investigation, Crime in the United States 2012: Persons Arrested,. As an experimental psychologist who conducts research on eyewitness identification, Ive seen hundreds of examples of highly confident yet mistaken eyewitnesses both in the laboratory and in actual court cases. This is not always the case. John Wixted is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. But in 2006, DNA testing on the victims slip exonerated Miller and established the identify of another man, Robert Weeks, as the real perpetrator. Second, the police lineup has to be fair (that is, the suspect should not stand out). 'Do you ask other countries? The attendants were also able to have a brief conversation with the driver before he fled on foot. The perpetrator had a brief conversation with the parking lot attendants and then fled the scene. The court tried to deter false identification with a stepped process. Consider, for example, the case of Gary Leiterman, who, in 2005, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison following a cold case investigation in which his DNA was found on the clothing of a woman named Jane Mixer, who was murdered in 1969. Juries are particularly prone to being swayed by eyewitness testimony, as evidenced in the Curtis Flowers case. While 30+ years of research is too much to summarize in a few paragraphs, we will outline the general problems with eyewitness testimony as well as some of them more major research that has been performed on the subject. Gareth, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, is the series editor of Best American Infographics and can be reached at garethideas AT gmail.com or Twitter@garethideas. In one study, people playing the role of jurors were able to reliably distinguish between accurate and mistaken eyewitnesses when the witnesses had not received any confirmatory feedback. 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