Difference between revisions of "Eyewitness Misidentification"
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| + | == Background == | ||
| − | + | Eyewitness misidentification is the largest source of wrongful convictions in the United States. Eyewitness misidentification has played a role in more than 75% of the convictions overturned through DNA testing (IP) From 1989 - 2007, more than 200 Americans have been exonerated by DNA evidence. Of these 200, about half had previously been sentenced to death. (Gross, 2008, 174) However, DNA evidence is present in only about 10% of cases, making the proliferation of eyewitness misidentifications a serious problem contributing to wrongful convictions. | |
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| + | The phenomenon of eyewitness misidentification is not without a racial dimension. Fifty-five percent of exonerations in sexual assault or murder cases involve African-American defendants and white victims. (Medwed 2006, 137) | ||
| − | Eyewitness | + | Eyewitness evidence tends to be persuasive to a judge and jury. One study found that 80% of juries will believe eyewitness testimony (Mourer 2008, 8). However, social science research in the past 30 years has proven that eye-witness identifications are often inaccurate (Innocence Project Website). Research has shown that the human mind is not like a recorder; the average human cannot take a photographic snapshot of the perpetrator in their mind. Additionally, the possibility for memory contamination is ripe throughout the evidence collecting process. (Innocence Project, discussed supra) |
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== Data == | == Data == | ||
| − | The | + | The difficulty in studying false convictions stems from the impossibility of determining the exact number. False convictions are only brought to light when they are overturned. Exonerations only account for 2% of all rape and murder cases (Gross, 2008, 173). Between 1989 and 2003, eyewitness misidentification was the cause of error in 50% of exonerated murder cases and 88% of rape cases (Gross, 2008, 186). |
== Memory and Suggestion == | == Memory and Suggestion == | ||
