Eyewitness Identification
The identification of suspects by eyewitnesses is anything but a precise science. In order to account for this imprecision, courts have instituted a number of rules regulating the process by which witnesses attempt to identify perpetrators. The ultimate goal is to avoid suggestiveness: If an identification process is tainted in that regard, a court will suppress the resulting ID.
Cognitive psychologists have conducted thousands of experiments examining factors that might affect the accuracy of eyewitness identifications. Learn why this evidence still makes it into court.
Always talk to a lawyer before agreeing to a lineup.
Showups bring suspects and witnesses or victims of a crime together in face-to-face meetings.
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