Chapter 4 - Eyewitness Identification: Uncertainty, Error, and Miscarriages of Justice

Abstract

Apart from fingerprints or DNA, perhaps the most powerful evidence that an investigator can have is a suspect confession or eyewitness identification. Either can be enough to get an indictment and then eventually lead a jury to convict. However, through DNA exonerations, both types of evidence have been revealed as more fallible than generally presumed. This chapter focuses on eyewitness identifications. An eyewitness is someone who can make a statement and testify in court about what he or she has personally observed. In a legal context, eyewitness identification is a particular form of evidence that involves the eyewitness testifying in such a manner as to single out the specific person or persons involved in a crime. Such testimony can come from a variety of sources, but most commonly originates from a victim, a codefendant, an uncharged accomplice, or a bystander.