The problem with eyewitness testimony a talk by barbara tversky, professor of psychology and george fisher, professor of law laura engelhardt stanford law school, april 5, 1999. Leading eyewitness researchers also discuss the subjects of conversational memory, alibi evidence, witness credibility, facial memory, earwitness testimony, lineup theory, and expert testimony. This accounts for more wrongful convictions than all other causes combined. Unfortunately, eyewitness misidentification is widely recognized as the leading cause of wrongful conviction in the united states. Eyewitness testimony is what happens when a person witnesses a crime or.
Jennifer thompson, then a 22yearold college student, had gone to bed early in her offcampus apartment. However, research into this area has found that eyewitness testimony can be affected by many psychological factors. Factors effecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. Recall and recognition it is estimated that eyewitness evidence has played a role in over 75,000 court cases per year in north america goldstein. Examining these memory distortions can help us better understand normal memory and its reconstructive nature.
They found that subjects in a more negative mood were less likely to recall false memories implanted previously storbeck and clore, 2005. Eyewitness memory is unreliable marc green introduction eyewitness identifications greatly sway both police and juries. Loftus believes that jurors should be made aware of the function of false memory when listening to witness testimony. In eyewitness testimony for example, the length of time between the incident and being interviewed about the event plays a role in how suggestible people are to false memory. Eyewitnesses can provide very compelling legal testimony, but rather than recording experiences flawlessly, their memories are susceptible to a variety of errors and biases. In a recent overview of research on memory distortion and eyewitness testimony, the impact of the research was summarized as follows. Describe and evaluate studies of eyewitness testimony 12. Identification accuracy she is also a co author of the book eyewitness testimony civil and criminal 4 th ed lexisnexis with dr elizabeth loftus.
In the word list false memory experiment where several students incorrectly remembered hearing the. Even though memory and the process of reconstruction can be fragile, police officers, prosecutors, and the courts often rely on eyewitness identification and testimony in the prosecution of criminals. Eyewitness memory is a lot more reliable than you think. Eyewitness testimony is an important area of research in cognitive psychology and human memory. False memory and eyewitness testimony psy363 false memory and eyewitness testimony a false memory is simply a memory that did not occur. The accused, the eyewitness, and the expert who puts memory on trial, by elizabeth loftus and katherine ketcham. Psychologists have also studied what legal professionals and experts know about eyewitness testimony and memory. Of those who have been exonerated by dna evidence, nearly threequarters of them were convicted in the first place because of faulty eyewitness testimony. This illustrates how memory can be affected by cultural schemas, perceptions of what happened from a particular cultural viewpoint.
Did mpi increase the hit rate or the false alarm rate. Eyewitness testimony provides a sobering counterpoint to todays theatrical reliance on eyewitness accounts in the media, and should be required reading for trial lawyers, psychologists, jurors, and anyone who considers the chilling prospect of confronting an eyewitness accusation in a court of law. Sep 09, 2019 of those who have been exonerated by dna evidence, nearly threequarters of them were convicted in the first place because of faulty eyewitness testimony. True crime false memory is a podcast designed to bring you true stories of actual cases of innocent people who were mistakenly identified by eyewitnesses, wrongfully accused, and put on trial for crime they didnt commit. Here is the key to the video, postevent information, and the memory test. Juries tend to pay close attention to eyewitness testimony and generally find it a reliable source of information. Eyewitness testimony provides a counterpoint to todays theatrical reliance on eyewitnesss accounts in the media and should be required reading for trial lawyers, psychologists, jurors, and anyone who considers the prospect of confronting an eyewitness accusation in a court of law. Along the way, there were disagreements, which were typically healthy in nature. Of the 250 cases overturned through dna testing 75% of those convictions were based on eyewitness testimony. This open access chapter was originally written for the noba project.
The accused, the eyewitness and the expert who puts memory on trial at. List of books and articles about eyewitness memory online. The impact of witness testimony in court is considered, and each volume concludes with a legal commentary chapter. This is sometimes unfortunate because eyewitness memory is highly fallible. New research reveals how little we can trust eyewitnesses. False alarms and misses represent faulty memory and inaccurate eyewitness testimony. By shedding light on the many factors that can intervene and create inaccurate testimony, elizabeth loftus illustrates how memory can be radically altered by the way an eyewitness is questioned, and how new memories can be implanted and old ones changed in subtle ways. The discovery of false memories has had widereaching implications, particularly in court cases, where accurate eyewitness testimonies are essential.
An initial eyewitness identification made with low confidence indicates that even. Eyewitness testimony is used in a large number of cases and is responsible for many false convictions. It is the suggestion that is the cause of the false memory. Eyewitness testimony is a powerful book that should be required. In a presentation sponsored by the stanford journal of legal studies, george fisher placed barbara tverskys research on memory fallibility into the context of police investigations and jury. What is amazing in this book is how well the authors maintain a balanced and fair attitude in the. Jazmine barnes case shows how trauma can affect memory. Over the last three decades, psychologists have made important discoveries, and applied those discoveries to the legal system in myriad ways. Many factors such as memory decay, poor eyesight and induced stress have already been shown to have an influence in false testimony. Eyewitness testimony is unreliable because people try to understand a traumatic event by using what they know about the world and fill in gaps, experts said. The magic of the mind an excerpt from witness for the defense.
Cognitive psychology vuw chapter 8 flashcards quizlet. Loftus has suggested that false memories form more readily when enough time has passed that the original memory has faded. Research on eyewitness testimony has shown that the more confident the person giving the testimony is of their memories the more convincing the testimony is to a jury. An eyewitness is a person who witnessed the occurrence of a particular event. Discover librarianselected research resources on eyewitness memory from the questia online library, including fulltext online books, academic journals, magazines, newspapers and more. In many cases, a persons guilt or innocence may be decided almost solely on the testimony of a witness who reportedly saw the act take place. False memories are more common than you think national. Eyewitness testimony and memory an essay in s agnoticismatheism section. She explains that memory functions like a wikipedia page that. False memories, false convictions great plains skeptic. Eyewitness testimony is often relied upon in the judicial system. Research regularly shows that ewt is affecting by experiences occuring after a witnessed event. False memories, false convictions by jake glazener. Sep 25, 2017 leading eyewitness researchers also discuss the subjects of conversational memory, alibi evidence, witness credibility, facial memory, earwitness testimony, lineup theory, and expert testimony.
Eyewitness testimony criminology oxford bibliographies. Eyewitness testimony is a powerful book that should be required reading for trial lawyers, social psychologists, and anyone who considers the chilling prospect of. False memories can arise from misattribution, suggestion, or bias, and are a normal part of everyday memory. Eyewitness testimony is defined as an account given by a bystander or witness relating to the occurrence of a specific event. It continues to be argued that this type of evidence is far too unreliable for the court room and can ultimately end up punishing the wrong person for a crime they did not. Eyewitness testimony and memory issues when investigating and prosecuting crimes and other incidents, their can be a heavy level of reliance on eyewitness testimony to substantiate the facts that are suggested by other evidence and to fill in missing gaps in the story of the crime, accident, or other incident. Apr 09, 2008 eyewitness memory is unreliable marc green introduction eyewitness identifications greatly sway both police and juries. The impact of witness testimony in court is considered, and each volume concludes with a. Number of cases in which eyewitness testimony is a problem.
Dec 15, 2011 aps past president elizabeth loftus speaks about her research investigating false memory, the reliability of eyewitness reports, and memories recovered through therapy and its impact on how we think about eyewitness testimony. Some regional jurisdictions, such as new jersey 10,11, massachusetts 12, texas, and north carolina 14 have begun to provide instructions to jurors on how to approach eyewitness testimony 10,1214. In eyewitness testimony, memory fails us sandra guerra thompson is the university of houston law foundation professor of law and the director of the criminal justice institute at. List of books and articles about eyewitness memory. Recent books and articles about memory have added depth and breadth to a few longstanding texts on the subject of eyewitness testimony, including loftus 1979. Eyewitness testimony loftus 2019 applied cognitive. An actual experience can become distorted as best illustrated by the cog lab experiment on false memories accessed through argosy university. Pdf consequences of false memories in eyewitness testimony.
Loftus also shows that eyewitness memory is chronically inaccurate in. It can also refer to an individuals memory for a face, where they are required to remember the. Research that specifically examines eyewitness testimony or the memory of traumatic events has shown weak 28 or even negative 6 correlations between a persons confidence in the accuracy of a memory and the actual accuracy of that memory. Chinese legal practice, eyewitness testimony, false memory. Eyewitness memory, which is relied upon in the process of eyewitness identification, is thought to be fragile and easily distorted by information obtained postevent. However, a weapon takes on a central part of the memory, to the exclusion of other key details, further casting doubt on the reliability of eyewitness testimony. Bought this book for my daughter for a project she was working on and.
In eyewitness testimony, elizabeth loftus makes the psychological case against. An initial eyewitness identification made with low confidence indicates that even though memory was not contaminated, the id is. False memories, although inaccurate, are often just as compelling as true. Eyewitness testimony is a hot button issue in not only the criminal justice field but also the psychology field as well. An important cue that a false memory is taking hold is the richness of the reported detail. Eyewitness memory is a persons episodic memory for a crime or other dramatic event that he or she has witnessed. In early false memory studies, undergraduate subjects family members were. Jan 06, 2019 eyewitness testimony is unreliable because people try to understand a traumatic event by using what they know about the world and fill in gaps, experts said. Mar 08, 2009 it was hot and humid in burlington, n.
Research regularly shows that ewt is affecting by experiences occuring after a. Eyewitness testimony and memory construction introduction. Aps past president elizabeth loftus speaks about her research investigating false memory, the reliability of eyewitness reports, and memories recovered through therapy and its impact on how we think about eyewitness testimony. Eyewitness testimony and memory biases by cara laney and elizabeth f. It can also refer to an individuals memory for a face, where they are required to remember the face of their perpetrator, for example. In the united states, approximately 75,000 defendants are implicated by eyewitnesses annually department of justice, 1999.
Loftus also shows that eyewitness memory is chronically inaccurate in surprising ways. As the thomson example illustrates, an eyewitness identification can even outweigh a strong alibi supported by other testimony. Loftus adapted by the queens university psychology department. Eyewitness memory refers to the episodic memory of specific event, often a crime. Studies show that the memory of a violent incident, such as the shooting of a child, is a more vivid memory than a more mundane event. An understanding of these issues may help jurors to realize that eyewitness testimony is not equivalent to dna evidence in probative value. The findings should be a good discussion starter for the malleability of memory and the difficulty of accurate eyewitness testimony. Ground breaking work on the misinformation effect and eyewitness memory and the creation and nature of false memories including recovered.
Loftus, a specialist on memory, examines the fallibility of eyewitness testimony in criminal cases. Geiselman, fisher, mackinnon, and holland saw much improvement in eyewitness memory with an interview procedure they referred to as the cognitive interview. An examination of the causes and solutions to eyewitness error. Eyewitness testimony is a crucial aspect in the justice system of the united states. Jazmine barnes case shows how trauma can affect memory the. An important cue that a false memory is taking hold is the richness of.