Eyewitness Testimony

Eyewitness testimony is widely used in criminal cases and certainly exerts a great deal of influence over jurors’ thinking. However, research suggests that eyewitnesses are prone to making a number of mistakes. An examination of eyewitness testimony also serves as a good illustration of the constructive (or reconstructive) nature of memory. Some interesting material is contained in the following Web sites.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/photos/eye/text_06.html

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-the-eyes-have-it/

Video (Loftus Ted talk excerpt): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB2OegI6wvI

https://innocenceproject.org/eyewitness-identification-reform/

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00703/fullhttp://findarticles.com/p /articles/mi_m2405/is_n1_v119/ai_14153550

After reading at least the above materials and thinking about this topic, write an essay of at least 800 words addressing the issue of how much confidence to place in eyewitness testimony, both from the general public and police officers.

-Why is eyewitness testimony so believable?

-Why are people so sure of what they saw?

-What factors might influence the accuracy of an eyewitness’s testimony? How might these factors come into play, for example, for an undergraduate at your school who witnessed a robbery in a local bank and was called to testify?

-How about the credibility of the testimony of a police officer who witnessed the same crime?

-What would you conclude about the use of eyewitness testimony? Should it be used? Are there any restrictions that should be placed on its use? Make sure to support your conclusions.