The Law and Science of Eyewitness Evidence

Abstract

Eyewitness testimony is heavily reliant on their memory and visual perception, both of which are highly prone to error. Eyewitness memory's propensity for error has long been shown in instances of wrongful conviction. Currently, decades of scientific studies on memory and visual perception have shown important error sources and strategies for enhancing eyewitness accuracy. Similar to a few other legal fields, eyewitness testimony that involves experimentation in the identification process lends itself to scientific study. Consequently, eyewitness testimony has evolved into a test bed for applying science to legal interpretation. This article looks at the responses given to this corpus of research by legal players, including state and federal courts, state legislators, and law enforcement organisations. Although decisions from the Supreme Court have established a constitutional floor, we discover that this largely does not inform first-hand evidence-based law. As we document in a comprehensive fifty-state survey of rulings, state courts have increasingly used eyewitness memory science to reduce misidentifications. In our second examination, we look at what more state legislators have accomplished by examining the twenty-four state statutes that govern the process of eyewitness identification. Third, law enforcement organisations have embraced updated identification procedures, notably through the adoption of a model policy by twenty-nine states.