Imagine if police let unauthorized people have willy-nilly access to a crime scene that is under investigation. Although the high accuracy of an initial ID made with high confidence is important to appreciate, the low accuracy of an ID made with low confidence may be even more important to appreciate. Published: 00:56 EST, 2 March 2023 | Updated: 01:01 EST, 2 March 2023. It marks the longest-running anti-government protests in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, with hundreds killed as a result. U. L. Rev. Until he was released on parole, the 81-year-old Weger ranked as the second longest-held inmate in Illinois prison system. Other major dangers that have plagued eyewitness reports are factors such as high-stress situations, how witnesses are interviewed by police, and whether the victim is the same or different race as the witness.6 In 2001, Meissner and Brigham performed a broad review of research on cross-race identification, analyzing data from 39 research articles and 5,000 subjects/witnesses. In this case, 120 eyewitnesses from as far north as Grants Pass, Ore., to as far south as. Questions were raised about the outcome after Ernest Saunders made a recovery following his release. Read through our advertising and sponsorship rates and contact us. In one clip an unidentified Iranian woman can be heard saying: 'They are without shame and should be embarrassed. The pathologist discovered that one of the babies had in fact died from a viral infection, not cot death. Get in touch with our team of experts today! Many eyewitnesses testified with high confidence despite earlier expressions of uncertainty.28. The same is true of eyewitness memory: memory can be contaminated with the trace of an innocent person, but under proper testing conditions, eyewitness evidence is highly reliable. Judges in California routinely talk to jurors about the possibility of misidentification, but their instructions arent as complete as those contemplated by the New Jersey court. Second, the police lineup has to be fair (that is, the suspect should not stand out). So are The Conversations authors and editors. . One reported that he had identified Grant without doubt or hesitation. According to the prosecution on the day of the murder, at around 7 am, Flowers walked from his home on the West side of town all the way to a sewing factory parking lot on the East side of town, crossing Highway 51, one of the towns largest streets, while doing so. Are you a scientist who specializes in neuroscience, cognitive science, or psychology? 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. Often, it can be the strongest evidence in a criminal case even though it can also be the most unreliable. Nevertheless, these subtle behavioral cues affect eyewitnesses decisions by making them more likely to choose the suspect. or debate this issue live on our message boards. to select the person they believe to be a prime suspect. 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. [Youre smart and curious about the world. The victim, a white female, parked her car in that garage every day and the attendants noticed that as the car approached there was an unknown black male driving the car. 10 Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 114 (1977). Los Angeles, Review: A reimagined Secret Garden fails to flower anew at the Ahmanson Theatre, Editorial: Ousting L.A. Countys chief probation officer isnt enough. Thanks for reading The Crime Report! Unfortunately for Lydell Grant, these reforms came a year too late. But eyewitnesses aren't always right, and poor investigative practices can make matters worse. As with DNA evidence, eyewitness evidence needs to be safeguarded against contamination. According to the Innocence Project, mistaken identifications are the leading factor in wrongful convictions, accounting for almost 70 percent of the wrongful convictions overturned by post-conviction DNA evidence. We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. Therefore, when John Warboys applied for parole, an independent psychologist was instructed by his legal representative to assess his risk. Expert witnesses are often instructed in cases where expert evidence is necessary to enable the court to understand specific issues, such as capacity, intent, causation etc. Given the prevalence and impact eyewitness testimony can have within a criminal case, it is important to take steps to make it a more reliable practice. John Worboys worked as a cab driver and was charged with sexually assaulting several of his female passengers. Nonetheless, the attendants mistakenly identified Miller in a subsequent police lineup. 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). The prosecutor, Doug Evans, tried Curtis Flowers, a former employee at Tardy, six times for the crime.29 The Flowers case relied on three key points of evidence: (1) the eyewitness testimony of people who placed Curtis Flowers on the route from his home, to steal a gun, back to his home and then to Tardy to commit the murders and then home again (2) ballistics and (3) jailhouse confessions.30
Discover world-changing science. In Millers case, the two parking lot attendants were immediately suspicious when the victims car approached the ticket booth. Miller was ultimately charged with rape, robbery and kidnapping. Such behaviors are often inadvertent; neither lineup administrators nor eyewitnesses may be consciously aware that theyre happening. For example, 21 police departments in the state conduct blind photo lineups, in which the person administering the viewing doesnt know who the suspect is. Another stated that the killers face was burned into [her] memory immediately.. But when the witnesses had received a simple reinforcing comment following their identification (Good job, you got the guy), the mock jurors could no longer tell the difference between accurate and mistaken eyewitnesses. University of Virginia law professor Brandon Garrett analyzed trial materials for 161 DNA exonerated individuals who had been misidentified with high confidence by one or more eyewitnesses in a court of law. (2017). Having served 10 years in prison, the psychologist recommended his release from prison. 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. Readers speculate why, Letters to the Editor: Serious about the drought? Consider the important, and often overlooked, distinction between malleability and reliability. 22 Years later, in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court highlighted the danger of erroneous eyewitness identification in United States v. Pay farmers handsomely to give up their water rights. Videotaping allows for review of eyewitness testimony later on in the trial if the reliability of eyewitness testimony is called into question. Chester Weger was convicted in 1961 of the notorious Starved Rock Murders, in which three women were brutally killed and their bodies left in a park located in LaSalle County, Illinois about two hours southwest of Chicago. Once a suspect has established that he was the victim of suggestiveness, a pretrial hearing will be held in which the full range of reasons for possible misidentification are examined. As with all indeterminate sentences, decisions around release are the sole responsibility of the Parole Board. Please send suggestions to Mind Matters editor Gareth Cook. Even if he allows it, he will have to instruct the jury about the variables that can lead to misidentification. circuit court, the 29-year-old was convicted of a rape that he did not commit and was sentenced to five life sentences. In addition to implementing double-blind lineup procedures, its essential that lineup administrators document eyewitnesses confidence immediately following an identification. "Double-Blind" Process for Lineups and Photo Arrays. This created an inherent bias that made the lineup unfair, and likely affected the victims subsequent identification. Widespread civil unrest broke out in Iran following the suspicious death of Amini on September 16, 2022. (Sometimes there is an issue of racial bias connected with eyewitness misidentification, but this was not a factor as the parking lot attendants were also African American.). the opportunity of the witness to view the criminal at the time of the crime; the accuracy of the witnesss prior description of the criminal; the level of certainty demonstrated at the identification procedure; and. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. In Perry v. New Hampshire, the Supreme Court barred the defendant from challenging the eyewitness testimony proffered by the state, even though the circumstances surrounding the eyewitnesss identification of the defendant were decidedly suggestive. Its a stain on our justice system. In contrast, a high-confidence ID is highly accurate, a surprising fact that has only recently come to be appreciated by experimental psychologists. It should be revived and approved. 32 National Research Council, Identifying The Culprit: Assessing Eyewitness Identification 38, 4-8 (2014). Witness misidentifications can affect both plaintiffs and defendants. The parking lot attendants provided a description of the driver to a police sketch artist and the sketch was published in a daily police bulletin. Do you ask other countries who are in our region but are allies of the United States the same kinds of questions that you're asking me about the women's hijab? The testimony of an eyewitness could make up for many shortcomings in a case, such as the lack of any actual physical evidence. Expert evidence may be important in determining the right outcome. COVID origins? More and more research has come out in the last few decades indicating that there are many dangers to relying on eyewitnesses, from the uncertainty of relying on a persons memory all the way to how they are questioned at the police station. 'Do you ask other countries? 15 Perry v. New Hampshire, 565 U.S. 228, 248 (2012). Noting a victims initial confidence level at the initial identification can be important, so as to track if the witness grows more or less confident with the identification over the course of the trial, which might be an indicator of eyewitness unreliability. Psychological experiments have shown that lineup administrators who know who the suspect is end up cuing witnesses toward that person. was a video tape, and his presence and the time of the event were confirmed by two athletic directors, his coach, and members of the opposing team. His offences led to him being named the black cab rapist by the UK press. The attendants were also able to have a brief conversation with the driver before he fled on foot. Guidance can help jurors who might not know what to make of conflicting testimony. Column: 15 minutes of fame flies by. Press Esc to cancel. He claimed police did not have the power to use firearms in the riots. 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. According to the same theory, 33 years later, in 2002, in an almost inconceivable coincidence, evidence samples from Mixer, Ruelas and Leiterman just happened to be together again in the Michigan State Police Laboratory. 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. In reviewing the case, it is more than apparent that the convicted man had motive, opportunity and means to commit this crime. I am currently involved in another case in which the failings of witness identification are starkly evident. Medicolegal court reports are requested where expert witness evidence is required. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. But studies demonstrate that a variety of factors can lead to the misidentification of criminals. Eyewitness memory is reliable when initially tested using proper procedures, but the legal system nonetheless habitually relies on unreliable (contaminated) eyewitness evidence from later IDs. 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. To see why, let us revisit those DNA exoneration cases that so often involve eyewitness misidentification. The detective also admitted making a similar comment to at least one other witness. By itself, that fact only shows that contaminated memory is unreliable (just as contaminated DNA evidence is). 14 Manson, 432 U.S. 98, 12526 (Marshall, J., dissenting). Law enforcement officers, prosecutors, attorneys, and jurors need to realize that just because a witness says so does not make it so. This is not always the case. 'To the extent that Daesh or even ISIS exploited the situation to establish a presence in Iran. Iran's foreign minister could not stop smirking as he was grilled about his country's record on women's rights in a combative interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday. When proper procedures are not followed, the potential for error exists. I believe the remaining 25 states should act swiftly to prevent additional miscarriages of justice. the time between the crime and the identification procedure. Using eyewitnesses to identify a suspect as the perpetrator to the crime is a form of direct testimonial evidence that is used for forensic purposes. 22 Edwin M. Borchard, Convicting the Innocent: Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice (New York: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc., 1932). His subsequent return to business raised further questions about the evidence that led to his early release. Play it now! If a judge finds the eyewitness testimony unreliable, he can suppress its use at trial. One might assume that Grant was the murderers unlucky doppelganger. In other words, the confirmatory remark made the mistaken eyewitnesses just as persuasive as the accurate ones. She unsuccessfully appealed against her conviction in 2000. This case raised important questions about the reliability of expert evidence. But there is more to the story. 2023 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. Retrieved March, 2019. 18 National Research Council, Identifying The Culprit: Assessing Eyewitness Identification 38 (2014). Miller was convicted and sentenced to 52 years in prison. Laura Smalarz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners. Thirty Years of DNA Forensics: How DNA Has Revolutionized Criminal Investigations., See here: Innocence Project, Eyewitness misidentification, Crime in the United States 2012: Persons Arrested,. Instead, they asked that the six eyewitnesses who originally testified against Grant respond to his claims of innocence. Eyewitness Testimony: Recommended Practices, Eyewitness testimony continues to be commonplace in law enforcement and trials. As a result, witnesses who have received confirmatory feedback provide testimony that is highly persuasive to jurors. Only radical intervention can save juvenile justice. But if the six eyewitnesses chose Lydell Grant from the lineup only because they were cued to do so by the case detective, why were they so confident in their identifications? What the cases of Miller and Heidelberg highlight is that witnesses are often wrong. 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