Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Eyewitness Reform Coming to Texas?

There is a great article in the Houston Chronicle today about eyewitness fallibility, and the possibility of reforming identification procedures in this state. Eyewitness identification is one of the most powerful forms of evidence in a jury trial, which unfortunately compounds the fact that it is, in actual fact, quite unreliable. Faulty identifications can be drastically reduced, however, if certain protocols are followed. Some of them, like using a "blind presenter", are just plain common sense. If the officer showing the witness the photo lineup doesn't know which photo belongs to the suspect, then there is no chance that officer can give any cues to the witness--either consciously or unconsciously. Why would any honest law enforcement officer be opposed to that?

1 Comments:

Anonymous Allen said...

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12/24/2011 10:48 AM  

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