Maintaining the Reliability of Eyewitness Evidence: After the Lineup
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Authors
Steblay, Nancy K.
Issue Date
2009
Volume
42
Issue
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|Two decades of DNA exonerations have highlighted the role of mistaken eyewitness identifications in wrongful convictions of innocent persons. Approximately 75% of exoneration cases documented by the Innocence Project have involved eyewitness error, a percentage that brings eyewitness evidence under scrutiny and its reliability into question. Fortunately, long before the problem of eyewitness misidentification reached public consciousness through post-conviction DNA exoneration cases, psychological researchers explored the memory and social influence processes underlying identification errors. One segment of this laboratory research focused on revised police lineup procedures designed to reduce the likelihood that an eyewitness will make a false identification. In the last decade, eyewitness researchers have produced recommendations for police lineups that include five core components: 1) effective use of fillers, 2) "blind" administration of the lineup, 3) a cautionary instruction to the witness that the culprit may or may not be present in the set of photos, 4) sequential rather than simultaneous presentation of photos, and 5) a statement of certainty from the witness secured at the time of the identification decision. A number of jurisdictions across the United States have brought these science-based recommendations to effective field practice in an attempt to produce more reliable eyewitness evidence...
Description
Citation
42 Creighton L. Rev. 643 (2008-2009)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law