Eyewitness Testimony, Accuracy Of

Every year in North America at least 75,000 people are identified from police lineups and subsequently prosecuted. There are hundreds of documented cases in which mistaken eyewitness identification has led to false imprisonment. Although it is impossible to know how often eyewitnesses make mistakes, it is known that mistakes are made. For example, of approximately 8,000 sexual assault cases in which DNA was tested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the suspect was exonerated approximately 25% of the time. In most of those cases, eyewitness identification was the primary way in which suspects were identified. Furthermore, of 140 cases in which people have been falsely imprisoned and subsequently exonerated, more than 80% involved mistaken eyewitness identification. Not surprisingly, improving the accuracy of eyewitness evidence ...