What Is The Importance Of Eyewitness Testimony

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Eyewitness testimony plays a very large role in the American court system. It has been proven that a courts decision regarding the guilt of an accused person often depends on an eyewitness’ testimony and identification (Aronson, Wilson & Akert, 2010). To a jury eyewitness testimony is one of the most convincing forms of evidence is (Goldstein, 2008). When an eyewitness testifies and identifies a person as the criminal, his testification is given a lot of weight, and it is likely that the person identified will be convicted. This is true even when there is other evidence indicating that the accused is not guilty (Aronson et al, 2010). Furthermore, the more confident an eyewitness appears when testifying and identifying a criminal, the greater the likelihood of the jurors believing him (Aronson et al, 2010; Goldstein, 2008).
Unfortunately, despite the fact that eyewitness testimony is given much importance and plays such a large role, eyewitness identification is often inaccurate. Many innocent people have been convicted and imprisoned because of inaccurate eyewitness testimony (Aronson et al, 2010; Goldstein, 2008). Of all the cases in which a convict was later exonerated due to DNA evidence, around …show more content…

D. & Akert, R. M. (2010). Social Psychology, 7th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: PearsonEducation Inc
Goldstein, E. B. (2008). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research. and Everyday Experience.
Loftus, E.F. & Zanni, G. Bull. Psychon. Soc. (1975) 5: 86. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336715
Lorenza, S. M. (2003):. "Factors Affecting the Accuracy of Eyewitness Identification." The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research 6 45-50. Web. December 2017. (-- removed HTML --) .
Smalarz, L., and Wells, G. L., (2012). "Eyewitness-Identification Evidence: Scientific Advances and the New Burden on Trial Judges" Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association. 385.

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