Literature Review

Introduction

Many people put profound faith in eyewitness evidence and over the years, eyewitness evidence has been regarded as the “best” kind of evidence (Boyce, Beaudry, & Lindsay, 2017). Eye witness evidence has a lot of impact in any criminal case and it can alter the trajectory of the case in immeasurable amounts. Eyewitness evidence can be used to convict a person, and this is an example of just how powerful the topic is (Boyce, Beaudry, & Lindsay, 2017). Due to the faith put in it by many people despite the common criticism it faces sometimes, it is therefore important to understand the impacts of its reliability. Identifying the impacts of reliability in the credibility of eye witness evidence is essential as it establishes the appropriate use of eye witness evidence in criminal cases.

Overview of Finalized Research Question

The finalized research question that will be addressed by the research is “how does reliability score of eyewitness evidence affect eyewitness evidence credibility?” As discussed above, eyewitness evidence is usually an essential part in any criminal case. Therefore, before making any conclusions or judgments using eyewitness evidence, it is of great importance to consider its reliability. For a long time now, most of the focus has only been on the availability of eyewitness evidence during a case and little concern has been cast towards its reliability (Garret et al., 2020). It would be wrong if eye witness evidence is not reliable and yet it has been used to make conclusions or judgments as this would be unethical and biased (Garret et al., 2020). Additionally, it would be wrong if the eyewitness evidence is very reliable and yet it is being ignored in a criminal case (Houston et al., 2013). Therefore, this research will focus on determining exactly how the reliability score of eyewitness evidence can impact its credibility. In other words, before considering the inclusion or use of eyewitness evidence in a criminal case, its credibility score should be considered before all else.

Research Hypotheses

There are two main hypotheses that will be tested by this research. The two hypotheses, however, are directly related to each other. The first hypothesis is “a lower reliability score of eyewitness evidence decreases its credibility”. This hypothesis will test the claim that if the reliability score of eye witness evidence is too low, then it stands a reduced chance of being used in (or making an impact in) a criminal case. The other hypothesis is that “a higher reliability score of eyewitness evidence increases its credibility in a criminal case.” This hypothesis will aim at testing the claim that if the reliability of eyewitness evidence is high, then it should be appropriately used (and have significant impact) in a criminal case.

Research Variables

Two main types of variables will be used. These are independent variable and dependent variables. These two variables will be associated with each other using a causal relationship. This means that a change in the independent variable will initiate a direct change in the dependent variable (Kaur, 2013). The independent variable is the reliability score. Fundamentally, the reliability score refers to the degree of how true or how false the eyewitness evidence is. The independent variable is what will be varied and will cause the outcome. The dependent variable is the credibility of eyewitness evidence. In simple terms, the credibility of eyewitness evidence refers to the degree of accepting or rejecting the eyewitness evidence in a criminal case.

Unit of Analysis and Operational Definition

The unit of analysis in this case will be eyewitness evidences. This is because eyewitness evidence will be the major entity being analyzed in the study. The eyewitness evidence is the entity that something will be said about at the end of the research and will be considered the focus of the whole research. The eye witness evidence will be the unit of analysis and it will be within it that most aspects of change and causality will exist.

Operational definition of reliability will be in terms of test score. The test score itself will be in terms of percentages. 50 will be the neutral mark and two aspects of the test score (higher and lower) will be used. Test score less than 40 will be considered a low reliability score while anything above 70 will be considered a high reliability score. Operational definition will be tasked with assigning meaning to variables through the specification of the operations for measuring the variables.

Rationale for the Variables and Processes

These variables and processes have been selected because they are the most appropriate to use in order to address the research question. It is usually advisable to measure reliability in percentage since percentages can be easily compared than many other forms of measurements (Silverman, 2020). Additionally, the research is mainly qualitative and therefore, it is easy to give percentages to non-numerical data for help in analyzing the research concepts and answering the research question.

Conclusion

By the end of the research, the impacts of reliability score in the credibility of eyewitness evidence will have been established. The research will be able to answer the specific research question while also answering another general question of how reliable eyewitness evidence is in criminal cases. This research will help to understand the current uses of eyewitness evidence in criminal cases, point out loopholes present in the process, and provide recommendations for the appropriate use of eyewitness evidence in criminal cases.

References

Boyce, M., Beaudry, J., & Lindsay, R. C. L. (2017). Belief of eyewitness identification evidence. Psychological science in the public interest, 7(2), 45-75.

Garrett, B. L., Liu, A., Kafadar, K., Yaffe, J., & Dodson, C. S. (2020). Factoring the Role of Eyewitness Evidence in the Courtroom. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 17(3), 556-579.

Houston, K. A., Hope, L., Memon, A., & Don Read, J. (2013). Expert testimony on eyewitness evidence: In search of common sense. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 31(5), 637-651.

Kaur, S. P. (2013). Variables in research. Indian Journal of Research and Reports in Medical Sciences, 3(4), 36-38.

National Institute of Justice (US). (2019). Technical Working Group for Eyewitness Evidence. Eyewitness evidence: A guide for law enforcement. US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

Silverman, D. (Ed.). (2020). Qualitative research. Sage Publications Limited.