Some of the methods we do not agree with are the idea of composite images. We as a team believe yield investigative leads in cases in which no suspect has been determined. Using composite image can be misleading in our opinion. The victim can choose someone that could be innocent based on false facts. The victim can be pressured into making a decision because of the defendant being directly in front of them. The show up has different aspects from the mug book because of the pressure in dealing with what emotions they already have. The negative side…
One of the photographs in the array of photos was Johnny Briscoe. It was a mug shot in the police documents for a stolen vehicle and an attempted theft suspect in the mid 1970's…
In this system, both the police and the eyewitness do not know who the suspect is, and the witness gets informed that the police are not aware of the suspect. This process would have led to identification procedure, one that would not be a flaw and had no suggestive cues. The police could also use other features such as asking suspects to change their clad and to repeat the lineup. This case also indicates that in some contexts, the criminal justice system is not fair or equal to all. The minority does not get the same services with the majority in the system. If the suspect was white, perhaps the police could recommend a DNA test at first to remove the uncertainty in the identification procedure. Nevertheless, the police ruled on racial lines possibly due to hate, or laziness to conduct thorough and informed investigations. However, this notwithstanding, the police failed to follow the law whereby all people are equal before the law regardless of their race or social…
The spread should be displayed separately to each witness, again, based on NIJ guidelines (U.S. Department of Justice, 1999). The witnesses should view the spread without an interference or suggestion of which photo may contain the suspect. Inform the witnesses that they will be viewing photos that may or may not contain the suspect and that it is just as important to maintain innocence as it is to apply guilt.…
These two factors will be closely examined and how this caused misconceptions during the court case. First Ronald White, the man that drove A.R. to the aunt’s house was the main person in describing the attacker. He described the man on the street as a caucasian man with long hair and a mustache. He was wearing a bandana on his head, a jacket, sweatpants, with brown gloves and boots. With this information, authorities were able to create a composite drawing published in the local california newspaper. The victim’s aunt was chosen to see the composite and clearly identified Peter Rose, who was a family relative that was closely associated with A.R. With this information, detectives used Rose’s information creating a photographic lineup shown to Ronald White. Peter Rose was not selected from the lineup. Ronald White selected another photo identifying the…
When John Doe was arrested and brought to the police station, then first thing that should be done is to process John Doe or booked. During the booking process the police would document personal information, take photographs, and have John fingerprinted. During the booking process questions are asked, such as, your name, place of birth, birth date, height,…
In this court case, the eyewitness identification of the truck was vital to the initial traffic stop of the vehicle. The 911 caller’s identification of the vehicle played a key role in the court as it served as evidence against the petitioners, so if the caller’s description of the vehicle was not accurate, the right truck would not have been found or the case could be dropped. In a study performed by Neil Brewer and Gary L. Wells, they identified several variables that impact the witness’s accuracy and instill a bias against the suspect. Some of these variables include cross-racial identification and poor lighting (Brewer & Wells, 2011). The cross-racial bias is when someone of one race is able to more easily identify another member of their own race, and their ability to identify someone of another race is impaired (Rutledge, 2016). In an effort to decrease the prevalence of the cross-racial bias, psychologists have recommended the use of double-blind lineups to hopefully discourage the administrator of the lineup from involuntarily indicating the witness to the suspect. Some prime routes to consider when trying to advance in the accuracy of eyewitness identification are decreasing the certainty of variables to explain the identification performance, and the inadequacy of scrutinizing interactions…
In our society today many innocent people have been sent to jail on false identification by victims or witnesses. We will be identifying the ethical issues within the field of criminal investigation as applied to wrongful conviction based upon tainted or faulty line-ups. Addressing the ethical responsibilities of law enforcement in their requirements for fairness and responsibility to ensure there are no wrongful convictions based upon false identification. Identifying the processes utilized by law enforcement in the identification of suspects. Also to consider individuals making identifications, do so in error at times, others intentionally, or are led by law enforcement through improper actions, such as prejudicial line-ups or photo arrays.…
If the police officer knows who the suspect is in a photo or lineup it might influences the witness to pick that person (eyewitness identification, 6-12 paragraphs, n.d.)…
Smith, S.M., Stinson, V., & Prosser, M.A. (2004). Do they all look alike? An exploration…
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…
Some people may argue that eye witness testimonies can then rely on actual identifications like a line up, but those are proven to be unreliable too. If the suspect is a different race than the witness, they are harder to identify. Out of 271 cases results showed that 65% of eye witness identification were correct with same race and only 45% correct with different race. Line ups can be unreliable because of the type of line up used, the selection fillers who are the people in the line up who aren’t the actual suspect, the number of fillers and the instructions to the witness before the identification. Some line ups have the witness look at one potential suspect at a time, which is proven less reliable than a actual line of people. But, if the people all look too different it’s hard to rely on because there wasn’t much detail about the person needed, and if all the people look too similar, the witness could chose the wrong person on accident because of certain features they both have. The number of people can’t be too much and overwhelm the witness and confuse them, but can’t be too little to again give it…
Since the exoneration of wrongly convicted people through DNA evidence, the question of whether eyewitness testimony should be used in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) has been debated. This essay will discuss different estimator variables affecting eyewitness testimony, both during the event – face-recognition challenges; stress and trauma; weapons focus and interference - and after the event – misinformation effect and suggestibility; and unconscious transference. Thus concluding that eyewitness testimony has known limitations, but with adaptations of certain practices - recording of testimony; cognitive interview; specific guidelines for lineups or photo arrays; recommendations for jurors, and expert testimony - it can improve the probative value of eyewitness testimony allowing it to continue to play an important role in the CJS.…
"Mistakes eyewitness identification has gone for 30 years now Identifying the innocent man up to life in prison, while the real perpetrator gets away like in U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Neil v. Bigger and Manson v. Brathwaite" (Criminal Evidence Thomas J. Gardner pg. 319)…
Say you are walking down the street and a police officer pulls you over and attempts to search you. His only reason for doing so is that the area you happen to be walking in is known to have gang involved robberies and you just happen to fit the race. Is it fair to be stopped and searched for the color of your skin? Is it even right to judge someone by the way they dress, walk, talk, or even move? Maybe in some cases it makes sense, and then there are cases where people are targeted based of off another's racism. The definition of profiling as described by dictionary.com is “the use of personal characteristics or behavior patterns to make generalizations about a person, as in gender profiling” and, “the use of these characteristics to determine whether a person may be engaged in illegal activity, as in racial profiling .…