The Accuracy of an Eyewitness Testimony Student: Amy Mason Number: 2842657 Tutor: Serena Nicholls Tutorial Time: Thursday 10am - 10:50am Due date: Friday 21st September 21‚ 2012 Word count: 1858 Psychological research shows that eyewitness testimony is not always accurate‚ therefore it should not be used in the criminal justice system. Discuss. 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
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Discuss factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. There are factors that affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimony such as emotions‚ fundamental attribution bias‚ face recognition in other races‚ leading questions and many more. An example of the affect factors such as leading questions can have on eyewitness testimonies is the Loftus and Palmed study (1974). It’s has been proposed that we store a series of incomplete memory fragments in our mind. When we need to recall a
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Reliability of Eyewitness Testimonies Based on Memory Memory most of the time is on the debate of its reliability‚ especially within the jury system and on eyewitness testimonies. The significance of eyewitness testimonies cannot be ignored‚ plus this plays as a crucial role in accusing the true culprit. Nevertheless‚ there are many innocent individuals‚ because of this‚ have to stay in prison for things that they have never done. Based on memory‚ there is no certain confidence that the testimonies describing
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Eyewitness Memory is Unreliable Marc Green Introduction Eyewitness identifications greatly sway both police and juries. As the Thomson example illustrates‚ an eyewitness identification can even outweigh a strong alibi supported by other testimony. This is sometimes unfortunate because eyewitness memory is highly fallible. Memory errors fall into two classes: people can 1) either completely fail to recall an event or 2) have an inaccurate recollection. People have very different attitudes about
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however‚ that eyewitness testimony may not be as reliable as it was long thought to be. In fact‚ eyewitnesses commonly misidentify people and misremember events. As a result‚ many have been falsely convicted of serious crimes‚ including robbery‚ assault and murder. The Innocence Project reports that 70 percent of convictions‚ which were eventually overturned based on DNA testing‚ involved eyewitness misidentifications.
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Loftus‚ G.R. & Loftus‚ E.F. (1976) Hillsdale‚ NJ: Erlbaum Associates. Japanese edition: University of Tokyo Press. Cognitive Processes. Bourne‚ L.E.‚ Dominowski‚ R. L.‚ & Loftus‚ E.F. (1979). Englewood Cliffs‚ NJ: Prentice-Hall. Eyewitness Testimony. Loftus‚ E.F. (1979). Cambridge‚ MA: Harvard University Press.(National Media Award‚ Distinguished Contribution‚ 1980). (Reissued with new Preface in 1996). Japanese edition: Seishin Shobo‚ Tokyo. Memory. Loftus‚ E.F. (1980). Reading‚ MA:
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Eyewitness testimony refers to people giving evidence to a crime or accident‚ on the basis of recalling sensory information that they have witnessed. It is important to the law and police to gather information about an investigative incident from people’s recollection of events to try to create an understanding of what took place. Elizabeth Loftus conducted many studies in relation to eyewitness testimony to find out the validity‚ reliability or lack of‚ when considering the evidence brought forward
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reasons why the reliability of eyewitness testimony in the United States judicial system today is all but flawed. There is only one way a witness can identify a suspect who has committed a crime‚ and it is called face to face recognition. Just getting a glimpse‚ bad weather‚ and bad lighting can hinder what a person can truly see. There have been several accounts of individuals that have been convicted‚ imprisoned‚ and put to death off of flawed testimonies by an eyewitness. In this I will attempt to
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Q. Discuss the factors that influence eyewitness recall‚ and evaluate the evidence behind these theories. In this assignment I aim to discuss the factors that influence eyewitness testimony and to evaluate whether it is reliable or not. I’ll be explaining a short introduction into what eye witness recall is. At the end of the assignment a conclusion to what I’ve learnt and the overall view of eyewitness recall. INTRODUCTION. Eyewitness testimony is a legal term‚ it is a statement given
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Identification of Area Eyewitness testimonies are a very important area within cognitive psychology and relates directly to the human brain and memory. Cognitive psychology refers to the study of an individual’s internal processes‚ more specifically how they perceive information‚ how they learn‚ remember and think. The way that an individual functions cognitively directly impacts the eyewitness statement that they give‚ as we all perceive and recall information differently. By questioning the validity
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