Eyewitness Research Paper
Mohd. Khan
10/22/12
PY-101
Can You Trust an Eyewitness? Eyewitnesses are people who are present and observe the crime or event taking place. Before the discovery of DNA and forensic testing, most of the accusations in court were made by the eyewitnesses. But even now-a-days, the statement of an eyewitness is taken into first consideration when there is no forensic evidence available; it makes the case a lot harder to convict the criminal as eyewitnesses cannot be trusted in most occasions. There are three main psychological reasons for this judgement of mine; these reasons are attention, retention and reproduction. Attention relates to how much attention a person pays attention towards some particular on-going situation taking …show more content…
Firstly, the eyewitnesses should be made comfortable when told to identify the suspect. S/he should be informed that the individuals that will come in front of them may not include the real suspect and that ‘none of them’ will be considered as a valid answer. Secondly, instead of the line-up system that is common in identification system here in the USA, each individual should be revealed to the eyewitness one by one, so that they can take their time and feel stress free. It will help them in identifying the right suspect. I strongly believe that these changes will bring increase accuracy of eyewitness …show more content…
A memory of mine which is of great importance to me is the day I left my country to study in the USA, which has become really distorted now that I try to recall the details. I can remember that my family members and friends came to see me off from the airport, but I cannot exactly bring to mind all the people who were there. I cannot remember the last words my mother spoke to me but all I could remember was that she became immensely emotional about me leaving her. On the contrary, I can still vividly remember the first day I met my best friend in class 3. I can still clearly remember what we talked about when we met and where it took
10/22/12
PY-101
Can You Trust an Eyewitness? Eyewitnesses are people who are present and observe the crime or event taking place. Before the discovery of DNA and forensic testing, most of the accusations in court were made by the eyewitnesses. But even now-a-days, the statement of an eyewitness is taken into first consideration when there is no forensic evidence available; it makes the case a lot harder to convict the criminal as eyewitnesses cannot be trusted in most occasions. There are three main psychological reasons for this judgement of mine; these reasons are attention, retention and reproduction. Attention relates to how much attention a person pays attention towards some particular on-going situation taking …show more content…
Firstly, the eyewitnesses should be made comfortable when told to identify the suspect. S/he should be informed that the individuals that will come in front of them may not include the real suspect and that ‘none of them’ will be considered as a valid answer. Secondly, instead of the line-up system that is common in identification system here in the USA, each individual should be revealed to the eyewitness one by one, so that they can take their time and feel stress free. It will help them in identifying the right suspect. I strongly believe that these changes will bring increase accuracy of eyewitness …show more content…
A memory of mine which is of great importance to me is the day I left my country to study in the USA, which has become really distorted now that I try to recall the details. I can remember that my family members and friends came to see me off from the airport, but I cannot exactly bring to mind all the people who were there. I cannot remember the last words my mother spoke to me but all I could remember was that she became immensely emotional about me leaving her. On the contrary, I can still vividly remember the first day I met my best friend in class 3. I can still clearly remember what we talked about when we met and where it took