eye witness testimony 7 pages research paper

Writing Assignment 1: Eyewitness Testimony due 2/8

Prompt: Eyewitness testimony has been used in legal settings for centuries, despite the fact that it remains one of the most unreliable forms of evidence. This paper will address the following questions:

· Is eyewitness testimony reliable?

· How is eyewitness testimony been used in the legal system? How many people are wrongly convicted based on eyewitness testimony?

· Why is eyewitness testimony so inaccurate? More specifically, what are some of the limitations of human perception, attention, and memory? How might these limitations contribute to errors in eyewitness testimony?

· Can anything be done to increase the accuracy of eyewitness testimony?

· What recommendations, based on research in Cognitive Psychology, can be made for the role of eyewitness testimony in the legal system?

Technical information:

· Plan to write up to 7 full pages, excluding references. 

· Cite at least five peer-reviewed papers or books; one of these can be your textbook .

· CITATIONS and REFERENCES must be in APA format. Use Purdue OWL to find out how to format citations and references; the link is provided online.

· The paper should be double-spaced with 1-inch margins. Use 12-point Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial font. Papers must be in .pdf or Word format (other formats such as .pages are not accepted).

· You do not need a title page or a running header. An abstract is not required. 

· On the first page, list your name, PSY348, and date listed in the upper-left hand corner. Put the paper title in bold and centered at the top of the first page.

· Points will be deducted for spelling and grammar errors.