View Full Version : Eyewitness Study
BigDeputyDog
06-24-2004, 06:59 PM
A study by Yale researchers and the U.S. Navy suggests that eyewitness accounts in violent crimes are not very accurate or reliable
Based on many years as an accident investigator, but without benefit of an organized study, I've found this to be true in most instances. Witnesses standing next to each other have described the same vehicle involved in a hit and run accident quite differently from one another. Two of the largest areas of disagreement are how the incident happened and the license plate number. When it comes to a description of the driver of the fleeing vehicle, one sometimes has to wonder if they saw the same person...
Groups of top officers undergoing realistic training at Fort Bragg are placed in a mock prisoner of war camp and subjected to low- and high-stress interrogations by U.S. officers acting as the "enemy."
Twenty-four hours after the grueling sessions, the officers were asked to identify "interrogators" and "guards." They viewed a lineup, a group of photos and a sequence of photos.
Morgan and colleagues found that in the live lineup 30 percent of the high-stress group made correct identifications versus 62 percent of the low-stress group.
Quite a large discrepancy...
SOURCE (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/24/tech/main626002.shtml)
BDD...
xwhirledx
06-24-2004, 08:34 PM
I've heard of such a thing before -- and how that really makes investigators' jobs so much more difficult!
And yet eyewitness accounts, if used in a trial, count for a lot, doesn't it? And I've always wondered how easy might be to influence someone looking at a lineup that one of the people there was the actual person at the scene.
Copzilla
06-24-2004, 08:41 PM
I've had similar problems with eyewitnesses, even on cases that are not high stress. I attribute it to a lot of people being really flaky.
I had one lady in a 3rd story balcony apartment looking down at a parking area report a burglary of a motor vehicle, clothing description, everything. We caught the guy a half-block away WITH THE STOLEN GOODS, clothing matched, brought him back and she said it was not the same guy. Flake.
Some witnesses try to be overly helpful, and tell you what they THINK happened as opposed to what they saw.
xwhirledx
06-24-2004, 08:48 PM
I've had similar problems with eyewitnesses, even on cases that are not high stress. I attribute it to a lot of people being really flaky.
I had one lady in a 3rd story balcony apartment looking down at a parking area report a burglary of a motor vehicle, clothing description, everything. We caught the guy a half-block away WITH THE STOLEN GOODS, clothing matched, brought him back and she said it was not the same guy. Flake.
Some witnesses try to be overly helpful, and tell you what they THINK happened as opposed to what they saw.
But that WAS the guy wasn't it? I mean you found the stolen goods... ?
Copzilla
06-24-2004, 09:08 PM
But that WAS the guy wasn't it? I mean you found the stolen goods... ?
Yes, of course it was. Everything matched, we were on him within about 30 seconds after the call came in, as the parking lot is a block away from our PD, but the lady refused to identify him as the person who entered the car. So instead of Burglary of a Motor Vehicle, we charged him with Possession of Stolen Property. He still burned for it, but it made our case weaker.
I got the distinct impression that she was enjoying the police attention as she was a witness to a crime, and she thought that by playing ignorant we would dote on her for a bit, take her downtown for a lineup, etc. She was younger - mid-twenties but highly unattractive and a recluse. Once we figured out she was playing games, we figured out she would be a terrible witness on the stand, and we decided to eliminate her witness testimony as an element of the offense.
xwhirledx
06-24-2004, 09:21 PM
She was younger - mid-twenties but highly unattractive and a recluse. Once we figured out she was playing games, we figured out she would be a terrible witness on the stand, and we decided to eliminate her witness testimony as an element of the offense.
Smart move!
My hubby told me once if the police knock on the door, I should do them a favor and answer it naked! lol...
Copzilla
06-24-2004, 09:27 PM
Smart move!
My hubby told me once if the police knock on the door, I should do them a favor and answer it naked! lol...
I think you just made Steve Moore into Cadet Steve Moore... :happy:
SixofNine
06-24-2004, 11:00 PM
And yet eyewitness accounts, if used in a trial, count for a lot, doesn't it?
My civilian understanding is that eyewitness testimony is considered the strongest form of evidence in a criminal trial. Even physical evidence such as DNA falls under the heading "circumstantial," but somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.
Lots of innocent people have been convicted based on faulty eyewitness testimony, e.g.:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/burden/innocents/
Jennifer Thompson even identified the wrong man, Ronald Cotton, as her rapist:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dna/interviews/
This was the first time that DNA was used not only to free an innocent man, but to also implicate the real criminal.
There was an interesting story on one of the news magazine shows, Dateline I think, about this. They mentioned a story in which a police officer in a foot chase ran right past an unrelated assault.
Before you had a chance to feel high and mighty, a professor on the show subjected the audience to a little experiment. He had a bunch of people running around randomly in a room passing a ball to each other. You were instructed to count the number of times that the ball changed hands. Ha ha, you say, they're not going to get me, I'm going to concentrate really hard and successfully count the number of times the ball is passed.
So they do this for about a minute and a half and I focused really hard counting the number of passes. Then they showed the tape again and said don't focus on the ball, just soak in the scene. Lo and behold, in the middle of all the ball passing a guy in a gorilla costume saunters into the middle of the scene, does a little jig, and walks off! I didn't see him the first time!
Being a good eyewitness is probably akin to any other skill: it takes practice to be good.
Brian
FrankF
06-24-2004, 11:51 PM
Police and courts must also deal with witnesses who are of one race trying to describe a robbery or murder suspect of another race. But to a white witness, all black and Chinese people look alike. To a Mexican witness, all white people look alike. "Yes Officer, I saw the whole thing! ... he was black, 18 to 30 years old, and wore blue pants". Great! ... that kind of description ought to narrow the investigation down to about 100,000 people.
When it comes to accurate information eyewitenesses, for the most part suck, suck, suck, suck, and SUCK! The only thing worse than in an eyewitness for information is multiple eyewitnesses for the same event. The more the worse.
If you want to win a trial then if what those same eywitnesses "witnessed" is favorable to your case then eyewitnesses are invaluable. Jury's just love them. (The ignorant well-intentioned smucks.)
Smart move!
My hubby told me once if the police knock on the door, I should do them a favor and answer it naked! lol...
Another GA member's "factual" statement or claim with nothing to back up the claim.
Proof, we demand proof.
ShinyTop
06-27-2004, 08:19 PM
Smart move!
My hubby told me once if the police knock on the door, I should do them a favor and answer it naked! lol...
Knock.
knock
Police!