Eyewitness Reliability

Are You Sure That's the Guy?

Asking eyewitnesses about their level of certainty improves the efficacy of police lineups

Veronique Greenwood | May 1, 2016

DNA tests have made it clear that many innocent people have been sent to prison after a witness picked them out of a lineup. Between 1989 and 2016, more than 70 percent of the 337 wrongful convictions identified in the U.S. had been influenced by misidentification from eyewitnesses, according to the Innocence Project. Researchers recently reported, however, that a simple procedure could help reduce the risk of misidentification: ask the eyewitnesses about their confidence level when they pick someone from a lineup.

"Providence Police Line-Up, 1968." Source: http://www.provlib.org/protecting-providence-three-centuries-policing-rhode-islands-capital-city/providence-police-line-196

<more at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-you-sure-that-apos-s-the-guy/; related articles and links: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-the-eyes-have-it/ (Why Science Tells Us Not to Rely on Eyewitness Accounts. Eyewitness testimony is fickle and, all too often, shockingly inaccurate. January 1, 2010) and http://www.innocenceproject.org/causes/eyewitness-misidentification/ (+Video) (Eyewitness Misidentification. May 27, 2016)>