Eyewitness Testimony In Today's Criminal Justice System
In today’s criminal justice system, eyewitness testimony is one of the most commonly used pieces of evidence by a jury. It plays a crucial role in criminal court casesas it is relied on heavily for investigating and prosecuting crimes. Eyewitness testimony refers to an account given by a person of an event they have witnessed (McLeod, 2009).Whether a person is convicted of a crime or not can ultimately depend on how reliable a person’s recollection of a crime is. When correct, eye witness testimony can be helpful in solving many crimes. However, when incorrect it can cause to severe damage and can lead to innocent citizens being convicted of crimes they did not commit.There is empirical evidence looking at the influence of three main factors
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Given that human memory can be manipulated and distorted using questioning techniques, it is worthwhile to consider other methods of obtaining evidence. Eyewitness testimony should however be used in conjunction with other methods of evidence such as DNA testing to obtain the most accurate evidence to use in a court case. Provided the severe consequences of false memory on eyewitness testimoney, courts should give a great ammount of consideration to the possibility of false memory before charging someone. Otherwise, eyewitness testimony may continue to place innocent citizens behind bars and therefore remain as an impediment to …show more content…
C. (1978). Do "They all look alike?" The Effect of Race, Sez, Experience, and Attitudes on the Ability to Recognize Faces. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 306-318.
Berger, J. D., & Herringer, L. G. (1991). Individual Differences in Eyewitness Recall Accuracy. The Journal of Social Psychology, 6, 807-813.
Bradshar, J. M., & Dodd, D. H. (1980). Leading Questions and Memory: Pragmatic Constraints. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 695-704.
Clifford, B. R., & Scott, J. (1978). Individual and Situational Factors in Eyewitness Testimony. Journal of Applied Psychology, 63(3), 352-359.
Dobson, M., & Markham, R. (1993). Individual Differences in Anxiety Level and Eyewitness Memory. The Journal of General Psychology, 343.
Loftus, E., & Palmer, J. (1974). Reconstruction of auto-mobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 13, 585-589.
McLeod, S. (2009). Eye Witness Testimoney. Retrieved from Simply Psychology: http://www.simplypsychology.org/eyewitness-testimony.html
Sarason, G. I. (1972). Experimental approaches to test anxiety: Attention and the uses of information. Anxiety: Current Trends in Theory and Research, 2,
Given that human memory can be manipulated and distorted using questioning techniques, it is worthwhile to consider other methods of obtaining evidence. Eyewitness testimony should however be used in conjunction with other methods of evidence such as DNA testing to obtain the most accurate evidence to use in a court case. Provided the severe consequences of false memory on eyewitness testimoney, courts should give a great ammount of consideration to the possibility of false memory before charging someone. Otherwise, eyewitness testimony may continue to place innocent citizens behind bars and therefore remain as an impediment to …show more content…
C. (1978). Do "They all look alike?" The Effect of Race, Sez, Experience, and Attitudes on the Ability to Recognize Faces. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 306-318.
Berger, J. D., & Herringer, L. G. (1991). Individual Differences in Eyewitness Recall Accuracy. The Journal of Social Psychology, 6, 807-813.
Bradshar, J. M., & Dodd, D. H. (1980). Leading Questions and Memory: Pragmatic Constraints. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 695-704.
Clifford, B. R., & Scott, J. (1978). Individual and Situational Factors in Eyewitness Testimony. Journal of Applied Psychology, 63(3), 352-359.
Dobson, M., & Markham, R. (1993). Individual Differences in Anxiety Level and Eyewitness Memory. The Journal of General Psychology, 343.
Loftus, E., & Palmer, J. (1974). Reconstruction of auto-mobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 13, 585-589.
McLeod, S. (2009). Eye Witness Testimoney. Retrieved from Simply Psychology: http://www.simplypsychology.org/eyewitness-testimony.html
Sarason, G. I. (1972). Experimental approaches to test anxiety: Attention and the uses of information. Anxiety: Current Trends in Theory and Research, 2,