Question

what are the issues with relying on eyewitness testimonies in a trial? Can we do anything to mitigate these issues?

Answer 1

Following are the issues of eyewitness testimonies:

• The occurrence of a false positive, where the individual in concern thinks that they know something or someone but in fact doesn't have it in their memory. This is one of the errors that occur in recognitions and can disastrously affect the eyewitness testimonials.
• Something that is heard and seen after an event has occurred is likely to influence the accuracy of the original memory.
• Our memories are constantly changing. They are revised and updated by incorporating newer information concerning the event. This incorporation and reconstruction of memory are likely to be affected by our personal biases and thus one might recognize the wrong person as "convicted."

How can we mitigate these issues:

• Reducing the deliberation is one way to extract accurate information from the eyewitnesses. Strong memory traces are more reliable than the weaker ones. Thus, the identification of a criminal should be made quickly (within 2-3 seconds) rather than giving the eyewitnesses enough time to think about it.
• Cognitive interviewing techniques can be used where the eyewitnesses are asked to narrate the incident from different perspectives and in detail, they are also asked to describe the event in various orders. They are also asked to use all the five senses while narrating the information so that the visual bias can be reduced to a greater extent.
• DNA testing is another way to prove the innocence of the prisoners. The innocence project has freed more than 300 prisoners by this testing. Thus, one can prevent injustice that is the result of eyewitness testimonies.