Eyewitness Testimony                          

Eyewitness testimony is the recollection of an event and/or person(s) seen firsthand by the observer. Testimonies are frequently used in legal situations when a witness is asked to describe the situation or person they encountered. While the person may be a primary source, the account may not be as precise as believed. Since long term memories are geared to remember general ideas, the specific details, of which are required for eyewitness testimonies, are riddled with mistakes. As a result, innocent people have been accused of crimes they did not commit.

An example of a factor influencing eyewitness testimony is suggestibility. Suggestibility refers to the information that the witness acquired after the actual event itself is stored into memory. Suggestibility decreases as age increases and is relatively high amongst kids. Children are vulnerable to misinformation, leading questions, and other details that occur after the event. Kids are easily persuaded, especially among the elementary age.

Another example of a an influencing factor is the post-event misinformation effect, which occurs when the witness is given misleading information after viewing the event. This leads the witness to believe that the information actually occurred, especially if it is plausible, and they incorporate it into the testimony. In addition, errors take place more often if there is a delay in time between the event and the testimony because the accuracy of recollection decreases over time. A witness is also more likely to give erroneous information if social pressures encourage specific answers, and if the witness is given positive feedback during the testimony, it can cause overconfidence in his or her responses.

The improving of eyewitness testimony have been a collaborative effort from  psychologist, law enforcements, and other legal professions. Psychologist have introduced cognitive interview as the most effective interview procedure when interviewing a witness for a legal case. Cognitive interviews are structured around making sure the interviewer does not give misleading information, or social pressures. In a cognitive interview the interviewer builds a relationship with the witness so they will feel comfortable and they allow the witness to give an open ended observation of the incident. The interviewer then ask follow-up question to clarify the witness’s observation and if done correctly this style of interview is more efficient for eye witness testimony.

Related Links: 

1. The Problem with Eyewitness Testimony

 Explains the problems of eyewitness testimonies, such as bias, false memories, and third party influences.

2. Could This Happen to Your Spouse or Child?

 Describes how eyewitness testimonies can lead to false convictions and explains how the memory process can be distorted by perception, time, interviews, and photo identification.

3. Eyewitness: How Accurate Is Visual Memory?

 Documentary on the CBS show, 60 Minutes, describing events of people convicted based on an eyewitness report, but later exonerated due to DNA evidence.

4. Eyewitness Memory for People and Events

 A chapter of a book, authored by Wells and Loftus, explains how memories for events are skewed by misinformation effects, planting false memories, and suggestive procedures, as well as how memories for people and identifications are affected, especially in relation to the line-up identification process.

5. Stress and Eyewitness Memory

 An article that contemplates the effects of stress on eyewitness memory, since intense emotion causing stress while witnessing an event can lead to a worsened ability to remember details or identify those involved. It also recognizes that the effect of stress and eyewitness memory needs to be studied further as the relationship can be ambiguous.

6. The Science of Eyewitness Testimony Has Come of Age

  Article that describes how the science of testimonies has become a topic of study in psychology and a future where procedures are reformed so eyewitness testimonies are admissible in court.

7. Eyewitness Testimony Psychology

 How eyewitness testimony is affected by psychological factors, such as anxiety, reconstructive memory, weapon focus, and leading questions. 

8. How Reliable is Eyewitness Testimony?

 Describes how witnesses may believe they saw an event accurately, but it may be distorted due to factors such as distance, in this case. It introduces looking at eyewitness testimony as if it were trace evidence.

9. Eyewitness Misidentification

 How eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions, and the variable that impact accuracy of identification. 

10. How to Improve Eyewitness Testimony

 Describes the procedures that improve eyewitness testimony such as, shorter deliberation and simple reforms.

11. How to be a Better Eyewitness

 Tips on how to become a better eyewitness and steps to better recall. Recording the incident, focusing on the victim and not creating any expectations creates a better eyewitness.

12. Improvements to a Basic Law enforcement Process

 How law enforcement's poor interview skills effected the misidentification of suspects and improving the skills of interview tactics leads to better eyewitness testimony.

13. Eyewitness Testimony Overview

 Provides an overview of eyewitness testimony and all of the aspects that contribute to the misidentification of testimony. Provides basic concepts and problems that occur with eyewitnesses.

14. How to Ask Questions to an Eyewitness

 Describes how witnesses are more likely to misidentify a suspect when they feel as if they have to choose on the spot, but when they do not receive the pressure to choose a suspect it leads to accurate testimony.

15. Method for identifying Eyewitness Testimony

 Jurors have trouble determining inaccurate and accurate eyewitness testimony. They have limited knowledge of eyewitness factors, they rely on poor indicators, and they ignore factors that are good predictors to an accurate testimony.

16. Memory Source Monitoring and Eyewitness Testimony

 A paper that goes into great detail about understanding the concept of source memory and how it contributes to the misidentification of memory.

17. Memories' Role in Inaccurate Testimony

 Describes how eyewitness testimony is fallible because memory can be influenced from the moment it is perceived and received in storage, which leads to inaccurate testimony. 

18. The Limits of Eyewitness Testimony

  Describes how APA has filed briefs supporting the need for courts to carefully examine eye witness testimony.  

This page was developed by Indie Coombs

This page was further developed by Afrika Hamilton