Eyewitness Testimony Analysis

Eyewitness testimony or the testimonies given by eyewitnesses are often times used as evidence in court. A person who has seen a crime occur, mentions their account of what happened during the time a crime was committed. Typically, when people think of eyewitnesses, they think of adults as playing that role, but children also play an important part and serve as eyewitnesses as well. The testimonies given by the adult eyewitnesses and children eyewitnesses for many reasons, are problematic at times. Eyewitness testimony is important because sometimes there is not always physical evidence that is available to use, but there may be a person who witnessed what was going on in that situation. Because they may be considered evidence, they are important
Elizabeth Loftus knows the value of memory, as she serves as an expert witness on memory. In Evidence-based justice: Corrupted memory, Moheb speaks about Elizabeth Loftus as an expert witness, and details factors that effects a person’s memory (Moheb, 2013, p.268). Loftus states that memory is easily influenced (Moheb, 2013, p.269). According to Loftus, it is more difficult to identify someone who is a different race than the one they are (Moheb, 2013, p.269). She played as an expert witness in a case where a man was trying to rape a woman (Moheb, 2013, p.269). The rapist fled away, and the victim described the man to the police. She identified a man whose car had broken down on the street, as the criminal (Moheb, 2013, p.269). He fit some of the descriptions of the man that the victim was describing. Because Loftus was able to serve as an expert witness, and explained that the woman was in a stressful situation, an innocent person was able to walk freely (Moheb, 2013, p.269). As an expert witness she points out that or memories are not “recordings of actual events.” Loftus is trying to have a policy passed, that jurors are to be informed of the faultiness of eyewitness testimonies (Moheb, 2013,