The Problems Associated With False Recollection From Eyewitness Testimony, Essay Example

The problems associated with false recollection from eyewitness testimony have resulted in thousands of wrongly-convicted criminals being fined, sent to jail, or even sentenced to death.  Due to the extreme nature of the crimes and the sentences that be awarded for such convictions, it is important for attorneys and juries to ensure that eyewitness testimony is not only accurate, but highly credible.  To illustrate the fallibility of eyewitness testimony, researchers created a scenario where students were asked to watch a short clip from he movie RoboCop in which a crime is being committed.  After viewing the clip, the students conducted a quiz that consisted of 15 multiple-choice questions about what they had just viewed from the movie.  Results showed that the students scored slightly higher than nine correct answers on average, which means that they scored roughly 64% of all questions correctly (Gee & Dyck, 1998).  Through this research, it is evident that eyewitness testimony cannot be 100% accurate, even when viewing a scene and being asked to recall the events just moments after seeing it.

The problems surrounding the potential fallibility of eyewitness testimony are very serious, especially when men’s and women’s lives are at stake.  “Eyewitness error remains a substantial cause of wrongful convictions.  With the fallibility of eyewitness testimony being so high, capital cases that rely on such testimony as evidence should require a quantitative evidentiary standard to be met in order for such evidence to be even allowed at trial” (Jain, 2001).  Such a standard would be difficult to create and utilize in a courtroom setting, but in the meantime juries and courtrooms can be educated on fallibility of memory recall and eyewitness testimony prior to experiencing the testimonies.  For instance, judges and attorney may provide the court with statistical information, such as the results of the previously-mentioned study that showcase the problems with immediate and long-term memory recall.  Eyewitnesses are used in a courtroom to help corroborate facts of the case and testify for what they remember seeing, but false recall or incorrect memories can cause highly destructive negative consequences for the person that is being tried.  Such education would be beneficial to ensure that the juries make appropriate judgments based on all of the facts of the case and not solely on the potential fallibility of eyewitness testimony.

References

Gee, N., & Dyck, J. (1998). Using a videotape clip to demonstrate the fallibility of eyewitness testimony. Teaching of Psychology, 25(2), 138. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Jain, M. (2001). Mitigating the Dangers of Capital Convictions Based on Eyewitness Testimony Through Treason’s Two-Witness Rule. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 91(3), 761. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.