Sociology and the American justice system

Psychology

Social Psychology in the Courts

The court system often relies on eyewitness testimony in cases, and memory researchers and experts have found eyewitness testimony is often flawed at best. Eyewitnesses tend to use selective memories, consciously or not, and focus on certain details of a crime (such as a weapon). In addition, they may have psychological barriers or prejudices about the perpetrator (race, gender, etc.) that may color their testimony and the way they viewed the events (Ebbesen & Konecni, 1989). Eyewitness testimony has been studied and shown to be flawed, memories can fade or change over time, and often the event is too brief to lead to lasting, correct memory. There are numerous cases of victims identifying the wrong person from a police line-up, etc. Thus, eyewitness accounts may be valuable in some cases, but over reliance on them is a major problem in the criminal justice system.

Jury trials also contribute to problems in the court system. Just as eyewitness accounts can be faulty, jurors can bring their own beliefs and social mores into courtroom, consciously or unconsciously. Two experts write, "Jurors face a complex decision-making process affected by a wide variety of variables that may be divided into two distinct categories: (a) internal factors that include jurors' personality characteristics [...]; and (b) external factors that involve juror and defendant demographic characteristics" (Gordon & Anderson, 1995, p. 455-456). These factors can be difficult, if not impossible to overcome, and lead to numerous problems in the court system, from hung juries to incorrect decisions about guilt or innocence.