Eyewitness Testimony Reliable?
Declan Geraghty
11/21/11
Perception Cognition
The Manipulative Mind of Humans
Ron Cotton, a 22 year old man, sat in his cold, dark, 6 by 8 cell with his face engulfed in his thin pillow as he sobbed and wished for the company of his family and friends. Eight days earlier Ron Cotton was living his everyday life, working, and going to school until somehow Cotton found himself in a police identification lineup for the rape of Jennifer Thompson, a 22-year old college student. On the night of July 28th, 1984, a large male broke into Jennifer’s house pinned her down and began raping her. Remarkably, Jennifer’s first instinct was to observe specific characteristics about the individual in order to identify the man if she made it out alive. Cunningly, Jennifer escaped the grips of the rapist, determined to punish the man who raped her she went straight to the police and conducted a composite sketch. Three days later the police presented Jennifer with a facial composite lineup of possible suspects, and within five minutes Jennifer chose a picture of Ron Cotton with one hundred percent confidence. The eyewitness identification proved to be sufficient enough to convince the jury of Cotton’s guilt and sentence him to life in prison. After 11 years of rotting in his cell Ron Cotton was exonerated with the help of DNA evidence. The numbers of exonerations are on the rise and this poses the question whether eyewitness testimony is truly reliable? Research in cognitive psychology exposes major flaws in retrieval of long-term memory and studies exhibit how easily malleable our memories become when manipulated.
The study of the human mind is a never-ending source for exploration for psychologists, and although there have been many ground breaking discoveries in our understanding of the human mind it is still a very mysterious and poorly understood subject. In relation to false memories and eyewitness testimony it is crucial to understand how long-term memory works. In
11/21/11
Perception Cognition
The Manipulative Mind of Humans
Ron Cotton, a 22 year old man, sat in his cold, dark, 6 by 8 cell with his face engulfed in his thin pillow as he sobbed and wished for the company of his family and friends. Eight days earlier Ron Cotton was living his everyday life, working, and going to school until somehow Cotton found himself in a police identification lineup for the rape of Jennifer Thompson, a 22-year old college student. On the night of July 28th, 1984, a large male broke into Jennifer’s house pinned her down and began raping her. Remarkably, Jennifer’s first instinct was to observe specific characteristics about the individual in order to identify the man if she made it out alive. Cunningly, Jennifer escaped the grips of the rapist, determined to punish the man who raped her she went straight to the police and conducted a composite sketch. Three days later the police presented Jennifer with a facial composite lineup of possible suspects, and within five minutes Jennifer chose a picture of Ron Cotton with one hundred percent confidence. The eyewitness identification proved to be sufficient enough to convince the jury of Cotton’s guilt and sentence him to life in prison. After 11 years of rotting in his cell Ron Cotton was exonerated with the help of DNA evidence. The numbers of exonerations are on the rise and this poses the question whether eyewitness testimony is truly reliable? Research in cognitive psychology exposes major flaws in retrieval of long-term memory and studies exhibit how easily malleable our memories become when manipulated.
The study of the human mind is a never-ending source for exploration for psychologists, and although there have been many ground breaking discoveries in our understanding of the human mind it is still a very mysterious and poorly understood subject. In relation to false memories and eyewitness testimony it is crucial to understand how long-term memory works. In