For Immediate Release: May 20, 2022 DURHAM, N.C. — Eyewitness identification has come a long way in the past seven years — the last time the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) summarized the state of research in that area. There have been important new research contributions and increased adoption of reforms in related practices by courts, […]
Tag: eyewitness evidence
New Mexico Supreme Court Raises Eyewitness ID Standards
The New Mexico Supreme Court recently cited Wilson Center research in a unanimous opinion that raises the standards for eyewitness identification under the state constitution. The opinion in State v. Martinez affirmed a man’s convictions for killing two Santa Fe teenagers and adopted a new standard for determining whether eyewitness identification of a criminal suspect […]
A Look at the Wilson Center’s Work for the Innocent on Wrongful Convictions Day
By: Brandon L. Garrett Today we celebrate international Wrongful Convictions Day, for the sixth time. In those years, we have seen exonerations mount in the U.S. and around the world. New laws directed at recognizing claims of innocence, preserving and testing new evidence, improving forensic science, and combating false confessions, eyewitness misidentifications, and jailhouse informant […]
New Article from Garrett, Albright First to Explore Intersection of Law, Science of Eyewitness Evidence
Eyewitness evidence, used in tens of thousands of criminal cases each year, crucially depends on eyewitness memory, which is quite fallible. The potential inaccuracy of eyewitness memory has been long demonstrated by examples of misidentifications, including in cases of wrongful conviction. Eyewitness identification procedures, which are themselves experiments, lend themselves to scientific research as do […]