Eyewitness Testimony Essay

The scientific method is used every day in our lives. We use it to make large and minute decisions, alike. The process is so quick that we use it without knowing. The process starts with a question or an issue, and ends with a solution or more questions. The issue that we will try to address using the scientific method is the reliability of eyewitness testimony. I believe that eyewitness testimony is far less reliable than other forms of evidence in a criminal investigation. We will go through the steps of the scientific method as well as examine existing research to draw our conclusion. Is eyewitness testimony a reliable source of evidence? Eyewitness testimony was once the best form of evidence available. With the emergence of DNA and other

Other factors to consider are the body language of an officer administering a lineup, as well as psychological influences such as witness recollection merging over time with the original event. Our minds are highly susceptible to suggestion, a police officer unknowingly leading us to a picture in a lineup, as they know the history of the people shown in the lineup. Over time we become more certain in the identification we made, as our recollection merges with the original

The human mind is too unreliable to trust in life or death situations. One possible solution could be to make all lineup identifications double blind, this would remove possible police bias or influencing body language. At the time of the lineup, video the event. This could give the judge and jury an insight into the eyewitness’s original surety during the trial. Another helpful step could be educating the judge and jury of the documented wrongful convictions based on eyewitness accounts. These few steps would greatly reduce the number of wrongful convictions based solely on eyewitness accounts. We must remember that we are innocent until proven guilty.
With the emergence of DNA evidence, cases ae not as highly dependent on eyewitness accounts. So even now there will be fewer wrongful convictions. Juries, judges, prosecutors and police must adjust the weight that they put in eyewitness accounts. An eyewitness account should be a piece of the pie, not the entire pie. To address the issue of eyewitness reliability I would suggest making several updates to our current justice