Eye Witness Testimony

Eye Witness Testimony

1. Used in the justice system

   • Not generally seen as reliable
     • Used mainly to back up forensic/CCTV evidence
     • Mistaken eyewitness identification was the largest factor causing false imprisonment

2. Stages

   • 1. Details are encoded into LTM
     • 2. Information is retained
       • 3. Memories are retrieved from storage
         • Accuracy can be affected by other circumstances
           • Eg nature of questioning
           • Eg presence/absence of retrieval cues
       • Memories may be lost over a period of time
       • Other activities may interfere with memories
     • May be partial/distorted due to particular circumstances
       • Eg speed of crime, violence, darkness

3. Misleading Information

   • A question which suggests or prompts the witness to the desired answer
     • EWT often made inaccurate due to this effect
   • Experiment: films of car crashes were showed to 5 groups. Each was asked how fast the cars were moving when they "hit" each other
     • Each group had a different word: hit, smashed, collided, bumped, contacted
       • Estimated speeds were higher for "smashed" and "collided" than "contacted"
   • Many consider the effects of misleading information to apply less in real-life situations