John Worboys worked as a cab driver and was charged with sexually assaulting several of his female passengers. 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. The NRCs recommendations for law enforcement and judges are below.32. Similarly, a witness may mistakenly perceive the circumstances of a crime or event, such as a car accident. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. Assistant Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University. Expert evidence may be important in determining the right outcome. This opinion differed from the opinions formed by the other professionals, who concluded that John Worboys should remain in prison. The Innocence Project found that out of 138 cases, two-thirds of the DNA exonerated cases were due to an eyewitness testimony (Howitt, 2012). However, Solicitor, Marilyn Stowe, had concerns about the expert evidence of Professor Meadow. 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). Why are we still having these debates? Eyewitness Testimony: Recommended Practices, Eyewitness testimony continues to be commonplace in law enforcement and trials. What law enforcementand the publicneeds to know. Nationally, more than 75% of convictions that have been overturned because of DNA evidence involved erroneous eyewitness testimony. The person they think was the perpetrator in fact had nothing to do with the crime. When proper procedures are not followed, the potential for error exists. Despite the frequency of use, we have been confronted as a country with many incredible failures of eyewitness testimony such as misidentifications that led to convictions and sentences of people who were later discovered innocent.1 Science has played no small role: post-conviction DNA profiling made possible by the development of the polymerase chain reaction, which enables amplification of crime-scene DNA to quantities sufficient for forensic analysis have meant that DNA identification is becoming increasingly used even in cases where it was previously not viable: those where we have smaller samples.2 As of now, almost 350 people, many serving long prison sentences, have been exonerated because their own DNA was discovered to be incompatible with evidence long ago collected from the crime scene. However, there has yet to be research showing what ideal instructions would look like, as each case involving eyewitness testimony varies from each other. He is the founder of Hale & Monico, Americas Justice Attorneys. At the time of his release, Jerry Miller had served over 26 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. My Blog cases where eyewitnesses were right. In addition to implementing double-blind lineup procedures, its essential that lineup administrators document eyewitnesses confidence immediately following an identification. Two other eyewitnesses, a couple, remembered discussing their selection with one another and confirming each others decisions. What would that mean for the reliability of the blood or fingerprint evidence, for example, collected at that scene? Finally, a witness may have more difficulty making a correct identification when he and the suspect are of different races. 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. Mugshots of Lydell Grant (left, in 2010) and Jermarico Carter (right, in 2007) show the men dont look very similar. 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. Police lineups have evolved over time, but some states still need to catch up. But eyewitnesses allege she was severely beaten and died as a result of police brutality. Examples of when an expert witness may be needed include: To hire an expert witness, you may make contact with us via our simple online contact form, call us on 01865 587 865 or by requesting a call back from our team via the link below. Several police officers reported and later testified at Heidelbergs criminal trial that they observed him driving the subject vehicle as it sped past them at various points during the chase. Are you a scientist who specializes in neuroscience, cognitive science, or psychology? The murder victims cold case evidence was there because the case had recently been reopened; the 1969 preschoolers DNA sample was there as part of an active murder investigation, and Leitermans DNA sample was there because he had recently been arrested for forging a prescription. Its a fact that eyewitnesses make mistakes. Prior to admitting eyewitness testimony, judges should make inquiries into the reliability of the eyewitness, looking for any indications of unreliability. Some elements include the following: First, and most important of all, because the test itself contaminates memory, only the initial memory test provides uncontaminated results. Taken together, each witnesses testimony fits within the cohesive whole, tied together into a description of the route Flowers had to have taken that morning. In a recent review of the literature, the authors reported across 15 experiments, suspect identifications made with high confidence were, on average, 97 percent accurate! So are The Conversations authors and editors. The lineup photo from one of these lineups shows how suggestive it was: The other four men in the lineup were much older and bigger than Chester. John Wixted is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. Read through our advertising and sponsorship rates and contact us. The case shed renewed light on the country's treatment of women, with a growing number of female Iranians choosing to flout the Sharia-based law to wear the hijab. 70 percent of the 349 wrongful convictions. It is not uncommon for the Parole Board to instruct expert evidence from psychiatrists and psychologists. 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. The Louisiana Supreme Court remanded the case based on prosecutorial and police misconduct, including improper argument at the trial and failure to disclose the existence of exculpatory witnesses. by TCR Staff, The Crime Report May 24, 2021, This and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.. (Joshua Boucher/The State/AP) There are a few ways in which eyewitness testimony can be inaccurate. Eyewitness misidentifications are known to have played a role in 70 percent of the 349 wrongful convictions that have been overturned based on DNA evidence (so far). 27 The Innocence Project, Eyewitness Identification,. or debate this issue live on our message boards. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. The variables include: viewing conditions (lighting-distance-duration), distracting stimuli (weapons-loud noises) and internal states of the observer (attention-motivation-skill-prejudice). 2023 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. Women in Iran have all the necessary required freedoms within the framework of the law, he claims, but says our interview is a confrontation: This is not the way to conduct an interview. pic.twitter.com/XKkC5uWYyj, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian smiled as he chastised CNN host Christiane Amanpour, telling her 'this is not the way to conduct an interview', CNN host Amanpour laid into the Iranian foreign minister over his country's record on women's rights. But in 2006, DNA testing on the victims slip exonerated Miller and established the identify of another man, Robert Weeks, as the real perpetrator. Mr. In 1999, Sally Clark, a solicitor, was convicted of murdering her two infant sons (one in 1996 and the other in 1998) at Chester Crown Court. Guidance can help jurors who might not know what to make of conflicting testimony. Hossein Amirabdollahian told the host 'this is not the way to conduct an interview' after he insisting women in Iran had 'all the necessary, required freedoms' and accused Western media of fueling protests there. Law enforcement officers, prosecutors, attorneys, and jurors need to realize that just because a witness says so does not make it so. 9 According to the innocence project, mistaken identification is a leading factor in wrongful convictions. Now the influential New Jersey Supreme Court has instructed police and judges to take into account an array of responses that might prevent mistaken identifications. After . Such behaviors are often inadvertent; neither lineup administrators nor eyewitnesses may be consciously aware that theyre happening. Retrieved March, 2019. Like eyewitness memory, DNA evidence can be contaminated with the trace of an innocent person. Press Esc to cancel. Thanks for reading Scientific American. A judge can review the footage to see if claims of witness tampering are true, or if the witness shows significant doubt while identifying the suspect. His subsequent return to business raised further questions about the evidence that led to his early release. In 1932, Yale University law professor Edwin M. Borchard documented nearly seventy cases of miscarriage of justice caused by eyewitness errors in his book, Convicting the Innocent.22 My Blog cases where eyewitnesses were right. 3 Eyewitness Misidentification. 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. 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? To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. Discover world-changing science. After killing the officer, the shooter fled the scene and a high-speed car chase ensued. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Editorial: He spent 38 years in prison for a crime he didnt commit. Nonetheless, the attendants mistakenly identified Miller in a subsequent police lineup. Often, it can be the strongest evidence in a criminal case even though it can also be the most unreliable. In reviewing the case, it is more than apparent that the convicted man had motive, opportunity and means to commit this crime. What facts gave rise to the belief that Leiterman may have been wrongfully convicted based on contaminated evidence? The pathologist discovered that one of the babies had in fact died from a viral infection, not cot death. Jurors trust a confident eyewitness and believe they are telling the truth and that their testimony is accurate [1]. Current procedures for collecting and assessing evidence from eyewitnesses are often not designed to minimize contamination.This problem does not apply to other kinds of forensic evidence. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. In 2011, Sally Challen was convicted of murdering her husband before Guildford Crown Court. In 1932, Yale University law professor Edwin M. Borchard documented nearly seventy cases of miscarriage of justice caused by eyewitness errors in his book, Convicting the Innocent. Videos circulating on Twitter appeared to show dozens of UN diplomats walking out as he started to speak. Neighbors told arriving firefighters that they had heard a thunderous crash at about the same time as the blaze is believed to have begun. The detective also admitted making a similar comment to at least one other witness. 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