Safeguards Against Wrongful Conviction
In the article, “Safeguards Against Wrongful Conviction in Eyewitness Identification Cases: Insights from Empirical Research,” Andrew Smith and Lisa Dufraimont (2014) address how eyewitness identifications are vital factors in convicting suspects. However, some of those identifications are inaccurate or mistaken, and innocent people can be wrongly convicted. In fact, mistaken eyewitness identification is the main factor in wrongful convictions of the innocent (Smith and Dufraimont, 2014). Furthermore, eyewitness identifications are not the only factors to consider. Law enforcement personnel and lawyers can also “contribute to wrongful convictions” (Smith & Dufraimont, 2014 p. 200). As a result, precautions were established to prevent such
…show more content…
Eyewitness psychologist have conducted controlled laboratory experiments that occur in phases. In the first phase, the encoding phase, “participants view a staged event, a video of a stimulated crime, or a photo of a target” (Smith & Dufraimont, 2014, p. 200). This phase examines how the participants process details of a memory. Phase two, the recognition phase, requires participants to identify a target using target-present or target-absent identification procedures (Smith & Dufraimont, 2014). During a target-present procedure, a participant can make one out of two decisions. The participant can make a decision to identify the target (a “hit), or make a decision to reject the target (“a miss”). Similarly, a participant can make one out of two decisions for a target-absent procedure as well. The participant can make a decision to reject the suspect (“correct rejection”), or make a decision to identify the suspect (“false alarm”). The last phase consists of making sure that the participant is confident in his or her decisions (Smith & Dufraimont, 2014). Researchers than analyze the participants’ performance by “examining the proportion of [hit and false alarm decisions made] in target-present and target-absent conditions separately” (Smith & Dufraimont, 2014, p. 202). In order for this identification procedure to be used in criminal investigations, it should produce more hits than false alarms. However, because this procedure does not produce the idea ratio researchers turn to using more diagnostic measures and procedures (Smith & Dufraimont,
Eyewitness psychologist have conducted controlled laboratory experiments that occur in phases. In the first phase, the encoding phase, “participants view a staged event, a video of a stimulated crime, or a photo of a target” (Smith & Dufraimont, 2014, p. 200). This phase examines how the participants process details of a memory. Phase two, the recognition phase, requires participants to identify a target using target-present or target-absent identification procedures (Smith & Dufraimont, 2014). During a target-present procedure, a participant can make one out of two decisions. The participant can make a decision to identify the target (a “hit), or make a decision to reject the target (“a miss”). Similarly, a participant can make one out of two decisions for a target-absent procedure as well. The participant can make a decision to reject the suspect (“correct rejection”), or make a decision to identify the suspect (“false alarm”). The last phase consists of making sure that the participant is confident in his or her decisions (Smith & Dufraimont, 2014). Researchers than analyze the participants’ performance by “examining the proportion of [hit and false alarm decisions made] in target-present and target-absent conditions separately” (Smith & Dufraimont, 2014, p. 202). In order for this identification procedure to be used in criminal investigations, it should produce more hits than false alarms. However, because this procedure does not produce the idea ratio researchers turn to using more diagnostic measures and procedures (Smith & Dufraimont,