Post #2 Preliminary Research

Last Tuesday's visit to Leavey as a class absolutely helped me find more research on my topic, issues of accuracy in eyewitness identification. I found several psychological studies and reviews of the issue in legal journals. Several of the studies I've found so far focus on issues of memory in identification, while others focus on the impact of these faulty identifications on jurors and convictions.

One article that I found titled, "Fallible Eyewitness Memory and Identification" by Kathy Pezdek discusses eyewitness testimony regarding their identification of the perpetrator as more inaccurate rather than accurate. Pezdek focuses on memory and how the way in which we process memory is inherently error-prone, especially in high stress situations. Pezdek argues for the use of scientific research within this phenomenon, stressing the fact that errors in eyewitness identification must move beyond the use of common sense.

Several of the articles and studies that I have found so far ultimately advocate for a particular solution. More often than not, those solutions were either the use of expert testimony or more intricate judicial instructions.

In furthering my research for the final paper, I hope to find more information on how to make eyewitness identification more reliable. This may include research on how to make police line-ups more reliable, and how the psychology behind the presentation of these individuals may perpetuate the errors in eyewitness identification.