One of the main factors in wrongful convictions, tunnel vision, has been recognized by psychologist as a human tendency to quickly convict a suspect so that society feels safe. Although tunnel vision is seen as a natural instinct it can convict innocent individuals and weaken the criminal justice system . Jerome Frank, a judge in the United States Circuit Court of Appeals explored the causes of wrongful convictions and noted that in 36 cases tunnel vision was a significant factor in the conviction of innocent individuals. As demonstrated, tunnel vision is a prevalent factor and may affect cases resulting in judges and juries convicting wrong suspects. However, the human tendency towards tunnel vision is a distinctive feature of an individuals psychological characteristics.
The justice system was constructed to rely on testimony that is often inaccurate and inconstant in many ways. The manner in which memories are constructed lends itself to errors. According to the constructive approach to memory, what people remember is not only based on what actually happened, but also include other factors such as previous knowledge, experiences, and expectations (Goldstein, 2011, p. 249). This is troubling due to the fact that eyewitness testimony is the foundation of most criminal trials. The case of Mark Diaz Bravo is an example of how false testimony can not only destroy an individual’s life, but how eyewitness error can lead to the wrongfully convicted being falsely imprisoned.
Psychological research shows that eyewitness testimony is not always accurate, therefore it should not be used in the criminal justice system. Discuss. This paper will consider eye witness testimony and its place in convicting accused criminals. Psychology online (2013) defines “eye witness testimony” as a statement from a person who has witnessed a crime, and is capable of communicating what they have seen, to a court of law under oath. Eye witness testimonies are used to convict accused criminals due to the first hand nature of the eye witnesses’ observations.
Research has found that unreliable eyewitness testimony causes serious issues within our judicial system (Wells & Olson, 2012). This paper aims to uncover the issues and limits of eyewitness testimony and provides evidentiary support that eyewitness testimony is often fallible. Moreover, this paper aims to highlight psychological components that may lead to erroneous eyewitness testimony. We aim to identify the psychological factors such as memory, cognition, and social influences that increase fallible eyewitness testimony. Moreover, we reference suggestive techniques that may also lead to erroneous eyewitness accounts.
As research in this essay has shown, individual differences, stereotypical threats, personal and situational factors can lead to reasons why false confessions occur. The ways in which police and other law enforcement agencies investigative certain suspects must make sure that the conditions in which suspects are placed in does not give suspects reasons to falsely confess. The different ways mentioned in this essay in understanding why people falsely confess to crimes have great potential in improving legit contributions to improving criminal justice practice, as they can help reduce the number of suspects who are put in these predicaments to testify truthfully.
In some cases, a jury may tend to evaluate what witnesses say more favorably and associate confidence level with how accurate their identification can be held in a court of law (Bradfield & Wells 2000). Causes of False Eyewitness Testimonies One of the primary reasons that errors in eyewitness testimonies are the leading cause of wrongful convictions is because it can be used as one of the most powerful pieces of evidence presented in a court against a defendant (Wise, Fishman & Safer, 441). In some cases, eyewitness accounts can be the only or primary evidence presented. This adds to the dilemma of eyewitnesses testimonies because it is hard not to take their word for it. “For instance, a 1987 study estimated that there are 77,000 criminal trials each year in the United States, the primary or sole evidence against a defendant is eyewitness testimony” (Wise, Fishman & Safer, 442).
While missing one sense, produced a heightened sensation in the other four, missing more than one sense diminished life quality. As the book clarified, senses reflect a window to the environment and a thermostat to internal needs. It remains imperative to understand how the senses not only communicate with external changes, but also with internal needs. Without the capability to physically observe internal needs, a mechanism is needed to communicate its
(Diekhoff, 1992: 333) A factor analysis will generally show t... ... middle of paper ... ...ratings, the big five model is extremely useful. If the purpose of the field is also to investigate observers' attributions about individual differences the five- factor model is less significant. If the study of personality aims to emphasise the whole person and the dynamic nature of personality, the model seems to be only of minor concern. As such, from the view of "multifaceted personology, the five-factor model is one model in personality... not the model of personality" (McAdams, 1992: 355). In conclusion, the support and criticisms of the five factor model are not as black and white as would be hoped.
*When participants are asked certain questions and have to choose to agree, disagree, or remain neutral, that may be answering what they think is culturally right. This is a dilemma because when that participant is placed in the environment of that question they may do the opposite of what they answered in the question and it could effect their score negatively and give them inaccurate results. **Although the big five helps participants condense their personality into five major dimensions, it skips out on many other dimensions and aspects as well. To input all your personality results into such a small genre is very general and may not give accurate results, leading some participants to give results that are contrary to what their personality actually is. ** Looking past its weaknesses the Big Five does have (distinctive) strengths that (overpower) its weaknesses.
It includes all of the thought and emotions that cause us to do and say things in particular ways. Personality is an incredible captivating and enthralling concept in understanding how a certain person acts the way they do. The Five-Factor Model is an amazing discovery of five main dimensions of a human’s persona and even though not everyone fits exactly into only one personality it is still an undeniable way of helping us to better understand ourselves.