Eyewitness Testimony Essays (Examples)

Eyewitness Testimony the Supreme Court in Neil

Eyewitness Testimony

The Supreme Court, in Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 93 S. Ct. 375 (1972), set out some guidelines as to what a court must consider when it is trying to determine how much credibility to give to eyewitness testimony. This case involved a woman who identified a man who she claimed had raped her. The case revolved around the credibility of her identification. The Court laid out the following factors that must be considered in such cases. The Court said that courts had to consider:

Whether the witness had a good chance to see the criminal.

How much the witness was paying attention.

How accurate the witness's description was.

How certain the witness was.

How long of a time elapsed between the crime and the identification of the criminal.

The Supreme Court set these out as the factors that must be considered. t did not, however, say…… [Read More]

Eyewitness Testimony Etc In a

41+). Loftus notes that science has found "post-event information" is integrated into what most people have actually experienced because, "when people experience some actual event -- say a crime or an accident -- they often later acquire new information about the event. This new information can contaminate the memory" (Loftus, 2002, March, p. 41+).

In addition, many false memories are created, deliberately or by accident, in response to leading questioning by therapists or aggressive lawyers. "Subtle cues can be inadvertently conveyed and social reinforcements provided by interrogators operating with a biased set of expectations. But here, too, therapists, interrogators, lawyers, or worried parents may be innocent of any conscious intent to produce false testimony" (Callahan, 1993, p. 6+).

Callahan noted that once a false memory has been established, it becomes, for all intents and purposes, a true account to the one remembering it. "It is important to realize that what…… [Read More]

Eyewitness Testimony Current Event in Criminal Justice

Eyewitness Testimony

Current Event in Criminal Justice

The eliability of Eyewitness Testimony

The execution of Troy Anthony Davis on September 27, 2011, in Georgia has stirred new debate over the reliability of eyewitness testimony. Davis was convicted of the August 19, 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia. Working a security guard at a Burger King, MacPhail was shot when he attempted to defend a man being assaulted in a nearby parking lot. At the trial seven witnesses testified that they had seen Davis shoot MacPhail, and two others testified that that Davis had confessed the murders to them. However, the murder weapon was never recovered. Ballistic evidence linked earlier shootings and bullets recovered at the scene to those of another shooting in which Davis was also charged. In 1991 he was convicted of murder and the earlier shootings. He was sentenced to death.

Davis maintained his…… [Read More]

Eyewitness Testimony Problems One of

Thus while an interviewer may simply be trying to pin down additional details of an incident (for example), the eyewitness may believe that she or he is being challenged about the accuracy of his or her memory and statement and begin (again, most likely unconsciously and not in any attempt to commit perjury) to shift answers to coincide with what the witness believes the interviewer want to hear (Poole & White, 1991).

The precautions that interviewers (from social workers to district attorneys) must take with children extend to all eyewitnesses. These include such procedures as having witnesses interviewed by someone who has no established theory about the case; having the interviewer make a written assessment of the eyewitness' certainty and apparent accuracy immediately after an interview; taking caution in repeating a question; and warning witnesses to a line-up that the suspect may or may not be present so that the…… [Read More]

Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Issues When Investigating

Eyewitness Testimony and Memory Issues

When investigating and prosecuting crimes and other incidents, their can be a heavy level of reliance on eyewitness testimony to substantiate the facts that are suggested by other evidence and to fill in missing gaps in the story of the crime, accident, or other incident. This can be a problem, however, as two different eyewitness accounts of the same incident are likely to differ significantly in many ways, and even the same eyewitness can remember details differently at different intervals of time following the incident. This is due to the human function of memory: the differences between short- and long-term memory, the processes involved in creating and reinforcing memory, and various techniques that can be used to help bring out memories but are not always reliable. This paper will examine and explore many of the issues related to memory and eyewitness recall.

Short-term memory occurs…… [Read More]

Criminal Eyewitness Testimony Eyewitness Testimony or the

Criminal Eyewitness Testimony

Eyewitness testimony, or the sworn oath of persons who believe they have witnesses a crime, or portion of a crime, has long been studied in both the fields of criminology and psychology. esearch shows that a jury, for one, tends to convict a person when there is eyewitness testimony present by two to one odds. However, research also shows that criminal eyewitness testimony has the very real potential of being incorrect, and in fact has played a role in more than 75% of overturned and wrongful convictions using new criminological techniques and DNA testing (Eyewitness Misidentification, 2011). Thus, there is a very real concern with the contemporary judicial system that even at the best of times and with the best and most credible witness, eyewitness testimony is often suspect.

Literature eview -- The three articles under consideration are quite detailed in their literature review, citing examples from…… [Read More]

Framework for Understanding Children's Eyewitness Testimony

In as much as intelligence is influenced by experience, the elderly have opportunity to acquire and process enormous amounts of information. While short-term memory may be affected by attention and emotions, the corpus of information available to an older adult is substantial, and -- unless they show signs of progressive or absolute deterioration as in dementia -- they tend to be skeptical with a broad base of human behavior available for comparison and contrast. Psychologists suggest that the schemas of older adults tend to solidify, as people tend to look for characteristics and events that support their frame of reference. owever, here again, it is important to consider the intellectual capacity and education levels of the individuals, as formal instruction requires a more disciplined, nuanced manner of thinking about the world -- which is reflected in the frames people apply to what they see and what they remember.

In your…… [Read More]

Fallibility of Memory Perception and Vision in Eyewitness Testimony

eyewitness testimony is far from being a gold standard in criminal justice. At least 75% of wrongful convictions for violent crimes including rape and murder were based on eyewitness testimony, and many of those convictions led to the death penalty (Bohannon 2014). Stambor (2006) found that 78% of wrongful convictions were based on overreliance on eyewitness testimony. It is therefore critical to reexamine the policies and procedures surrounding the collection and use of eyewitness testimony in criminal cases. Emerging research in perception, cognition, and the study of memory provides the framework with which to base a reform of criminal justice procedures. Training of police officers, and a comprehensive debriefing of judges, juries, and the witnesses themselves, are also possible solutions for minimizing problems with eyewitness reports. Although eyewitness testimony can be tremendously helpful in criminal cases, the evidence must be analyzed in a scientific and systematic manner.

Some of the…… [Read More]

Eye Witness Testimony Can Be Unreliable for

Eye witness testimony can be unreliable for a plethora of reasons, not the least of which include ulterior motives on the part of the individual testifying. People do not always testify to ensure that justice is served. Witness tampering can definitely affect the veracity of what eye-witnesses state when they testify, including partisanship tendencies towards sides of the issue considered in court.

From a cognitive perspective, however, there have been several studies performed that empirically validate the fact that the mind and various facets of it is not always consistent with reality. Perhaps the most tenuous aspect of cognition in regards to eye-witness testimony relates to the nature of memory. People do not always remember things correctly. Crucial details including those related to size, color, and even sequence, are extremely mutable to one's memory. Eye-witnesses, then, can actually observe an event that they are brought into court to testify about,…… [Read More]

Eyewitness and Recalling Shook Hands I Shook

Eyewitness and ecalling

Shook hands

I shook hands with Bugs Bunny... Describe and evaluate the role of schemas and stereotypes on recalling past events. What implications does this have for the accuracy of eyewitness accounts of events?

I shook hands with Bugs Bunny... Describe and evaluate the role of schemas and stereotypes on recalling past events. What implications does this have for the accuracy of eyewitness accounts of events?

Literature on Schemas

Literature on Schemas and Stereotypes and their role in Eyewitness

I shook hands with Bugs Bunny... Describe and evaluate the role of schemas and stereotypes on recalling past events. What implications does this have for the accuracy of eyewitness accounts of events?

Introduction

To investigate and prosecute crime the criminal justice system heavily depends on eyewitness identification (Wells & Olson, 2003). An eyewitness goes through different psychological procedures prior to the courtroom testimony. It is evident that before…… [Read More]

Misidentification of Suspect Eyewitnesses and Innocence Project

eye witness testimony and the use of lineups have long been considered reliable mainstays of prosecutorial evidence, misidentification has been the "greatest contributing factor to wrongful convictions," according to the Innocence Project. As many as one in every four eyewitness identifications prove to be incorrect (California Innocence Project, 2015). The Innocence Project therefore works in part to train law enforcement departments to develop eyewitness interrogation procedures that eliminate bias and prevent misidentification of suspects.

The case of onald Cotton highlighted some of the specific problems with witness identification through the use of police lineups. Inadvertent use of pressure and subtle verbal or nonverbal cues may cause eyewitnesses to misidentify a suspect, especially when the law enforcement officers administering the lineup knows who their suspect was in the case. The victim of the crime might be misled by officer support for their decisions. Stress, trauma, and general anxiety may also be…… [Read More]

Cross-Examination on the Accuracy of Adult Eyewitness

cross-examination on the accuracy of adult eyewitness testimony" by Tim Valentine and Katie Maras

"The effects of mood on the accuracy of eyewitness memory: affective influences on susceptibility to misinformation" by Joseph P. Forgas, Simon M. Laham and Patrick T. Vargas

The current assignment looks at two separate articles, written by different authors and six years apart, each dealing with the quality and reliability of eyewitness testimonies. The first article assesses this topic from the standpoint of cross-examination, whereas the second, based on the mood of the witness. The table below summarizes the viewpoints of the two articles.

Forgas, Laham and Vargas (2005)

Valentine and Maras (2011)

Purpose of study

Investigate the impact of mood changes on the accuracy of eye witness memories

Investigate the impact of cross-examination upon the quality of eyewitness testimonies

Hypotheses

Eyewitnesses who are in a positive mood tend to offer inaccurate testimonies, whereas eyewitnesses in…… [Read More]

Faulty Eyewitness Identificaiton Prevalence

Eyewitness Memory and Identification

• Should eyewitness memory factors be taken into the consideration when making a plea bargaining decision in the courtroom?

Evidence has revealed that eyewitness memory can affect identification. This is because DNA has overturned more than 70% of eyewitness identifications.

• Age, race, and alcohol intoxication of eyewitness are the major factors affecting the eyewitness identification in the United States legal system.

The independent variables are age, race and alcohol intoxication, while the dependent variable is the eyewitness identifications. Thus, the independent variables can affect the dependent variables in the sense that older adults and children often face challenges in recollecting events thereby likely to make an eyewitness misidentification. People who are intoxicated with alcohol are more likely to incorrectly identify someone in a lineup or in court. Moreover, an eyewitness is likely to make a bias towards other ethnic groups thereby giving false eyewitness identifications.…… [Read More]

Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance

Threat or perception of threat is best described by protection motivation theory:

This theory states that the extent to which people show preventive behavior in light of a threat depends on their protection motivation (. W. ogers, 1975, 1983). According to this theory, the level of protection motivation depends on the seriousness of the threat, the probability that the threat will manifest itself, the judged efficacy of the recommended behavior (called response or outcome efficacy), and the self-efficacy expectation relating to that behavior. (Wiegman & Gutteling, 1995, p. 235)

In a practical sense what this theory says about the perceived threat is that as incidences of observation occur in the lives of individuals, be they real or imagined they will likely become more protective and therefore attempt to engage in avoidance of behaviors that have been identified with the production of environmental threat. By doing so this the individual, and…… [Read More]

Psychology Social Psychology in the

..]; 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.

Trial lawyers are exceedingly good at using social psychology methods during trials. These lawyers use the principles of how people relate to each other and get along in life to make their clients seem more sympathetic and innocent to the jury and judge. For example, a murder suspect comes to court with his young baby in the front row for all the jury and courtroom to see. These psychological persuasion tactics are quite influential to many jurors, who have their own belief systems and ideas about what is right and wrong and the lawyers understand this and use it to their advantage.

eferences…… [Read More]

Gordon Betty N Baker-Ward Lynne and Ornstein

Gordon, Betty N., Baker-Ward, Lynne, and Ornstein, Peter A. (June 2001) "Children's testimony: A review of research on memory for past experiences."

Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review. Volume 4(2), 157-181. Retrieved at http://www.wkap.nl/journalhome.htm/1096-4037 on December 7, 2003. Document Link URL:

http://www.wkap.nl/issuetoc.htm/1096-4037+4+2+2001

The goal of the article was to evaluate several recent studies on children's memory the implications for the accuracy of children's testimony in the legal system. Although the studies were not all purely focused on sexual trauma recollections, the implications for legal court battles focusing on these recollections are of particular interest to the authors.

Pertinent to evaluating importance of article is how thoroughly it deals with the question of how memory develops in children over the course of the development process and how this memory may be tampered with.

The article also touches upon the idea, slightly more tangentially of how subjective is autobiographical and/or eyewitness testimony…… [Read More]

Mervyn Leroy's the Bad Seed

The theory involving Christine being determined to put an end to Rhoda's life can be related to her ration intervening, influencing her to take action before Rhoda continued her killings.

Rhoda pays special attention to the way that her mother sees her, and, even though she knows that her mother has the power to denounce her, she does not attempt to murder Christine. The next in Rhoda's list of killings would have been Monica Breedlove, taking into consideration the fact that the women had been closely connected to her, and that it had been possible for her to endanger Rhoda with the information that she knew.

The ending of the movie is most probably intended to present the audience with what it wants to see, someone finally punishing Rhoda, not through putting her into a mental asylum (as should have been the case), but by physically hurting her.

Sidney Lumet's…… [Read More]

Memorandum of Points and Authorities

Authorities

This firm's client, Franklin Olsen ("Olsen") was arrested and subsequently charged with burglary of the home of Lindsay Young ("Young"). Young informed the police that she had found Olsen in her home on October 15, 2010, at dusk and observed Olsen for approximately one minute prior to his leaving the property. Young described Olsen as being dark haired, wearing all black clothing and being extremely tall. At that time that Olsen was taken into custody.

Young was asked to make identification of the suspect to the burglary in a police lineup. Olsen was one of six white males in the police lineup and had an attorney present to represent him. All the participants in the lineup other than Olsen were between 5'8: to 5'10" in height and all wore clothing that was light in color however, Olsen was instructed to wear all black clothing. Olsen was additionally the only…… [Read More]

Malpass R & Devine P 2003 Increasing

Malpass, R. & Devine, P. (2003). Increasing Eyewitness Accuracy in the Lineup Procedure Is All in How You Ask the Question.

The author of this brief overview of the research presents a very clear and concise problem statement for the research undertaken. Eyewitness accuracy when it comes to lineups is the primary issue of concern to the researchers, and the problem statement given at the top of the summary article specifically identifies the issue of false identifications -- witnesses wrongly identifying the wrong person in a lineup and leading to false arrests and even false convictions -- as the area of primary concern. This relates directly to the experiment the researchers design and carried out and to the results of this experiment, making this clearly focused and very concise problem statement relevant throughout the entire research study. The purpose of the research is clearly and immediately identified, helping the reader…… [Read More]

False Identification and Lineup Instructions Biased Unbiased There

False Identification and Lineup Instructions Biased/Unbiased

There are many instances where people have been wrongly accused only because they were falsely identified or either because there was not enough evidence present that would prove them guilty. George Allen Jr. was convicted in 1983 on the charges of capital murder, rape, sodomy and first degree burglary. It has been noted that the reason for his false conviction was false confession, invalid or improper forensic evidence and government misconduct (Innocenceproject.org, 2013). Another case is of Barry Gibbs who was charged with second degree murder in the year 1988. He was wrongly charged due to eyewitness misidentification and government misconduct. It was noted that Barry Gibbs served 17.5 years of jail time before he was exonerated in the year 2005. (Innocenceproject.org, 2013)

These cases therefore give an idea that eyewitness misidentification is a very important cause of wrongful convictions all over the country…… [Read More]

Memory and Witness Retrieval Annotated Bibliography Chan

Memory and Witness Retrieval

Annotated… [Read More]

Memory Retrieval Within Criminal Justice Investigation

ecognition Within Criminal Justice Setting

Within the criminal justice profession the act of memory retrieval is essential to the act of investigating cases of all variety -- from the petty theft committed by a purse-snatcher to the wanton violence inflicted by a murderer -- because invariably the state's case against those accused will involve the statements of sworn eyewitnesses. While the American system of jurisprudence has placed a great deal of faith in the ability of ordinary people to recall sequences of events and crucial details under high-stress circumstances, as well as their proficiency at recognizing facial features and identifying markers during the commission of a crime, contemporary research on the subject of memory retrieval suggests that this trust may be misplaced. An article published in 2008 on the divergence between recall and recognition -- written by a team of British researchers led by Charlie D. Frowd and titled "Improving…… [Read More]

Evidence in Criminal Law the

3) All of this evidence is admissible. Even if the police informant elicited the information in the jail cell when he was not uniformed so as to avail the defendant of the knowledge that he was talking to a cop, it is still admissible. This is the case even if the defendant requested council - the idea here is, confessions cannot be forced when a defendant believes he is under the duress of police custody; if he does not believe he is being forced to talk or threatened to talk, there can be no duress, so the evidence is admissible.

And the officer can testify to what the defendant said, but it has to be in the form of exceptions to hearsay evidence. As he would be testifying to matters for the truth of the matter asserted, they have to meet hearsay exceptions - the most important one here would…… [Read More]

Death Penalty Anti Historically Much

A good example is the 1985 murder of convenience store clerk Cynthia Barlieb, whose murder was prosecuted by a district attorney bent on securing execution for Barlieb's killer (Pompeilo 2005). The original trial and all the subsequent appeals forced Barlieb's family, including four young daughters, to spend 17 years in the legal process - her oldest daughter was 8 years old when Cynthia was first shot, and 25 when the process ended without a death sentence (Pompelio 2005). During those 17 years, Cynthia Barlieb's family was forced to repeatedly relive her murder.

hen a person is murdered, it is understandable that American society demands justice, particularly on behalf of the victim's family and loved ones. But we can not advocate capital punishment under the guise of protecting the interests of victims' families, and then cut those members out of the process when they do not support the death penalty. and,…… [Read More]

Cousin Vinny and American Criminal Justice the

Cousin Vinny and American Criminal Justice

The 1992 film My Cousin Vinny starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei is a typical Hollywood foray into the realm of jurisprudence. So comical and seemingly realistic is the film (it takes place in the South -- where the unexpected nature of the backwoods setting gives the fish-out-of-water antics of Pesci's Gambini a convincing legitimacy) that one is willing to believe that it actually gives accurate representation of the criminal justice system and the court process in America. This paper will compare and contrast My Cousin Vinny with the actual American criminal justice system and court process, showing where the two meet and where (as in all Hollywood fare) they eventually depart.

The Film in eality

In reality, it may be noted that even the United States is using My Cousin Vinny as a guide when it comes to justice and jurisprudence -- at…… [Read More]

Psychology WA UFPR the Quantitative

In the vehicle study, witnesses had to select from various types and colors of vehicles, four of the former and three of the latter. The variables in the study in which listeners heard from 'witness testimony included the participation of both jurors and judges in Arizona, five differently worded findings, as well as two versions of conclusions in which it was stated that the 'suspect' either did or did not commit the crime -- in the opinion of the expert (McQuiston-Surrett and Saks, 2009, p. 441).

However, the data collection was extremely different. In the vehicle witness study, the findings were simply the mathematical results of the percentages of the people who were correct in identifying the requisite vehicle. In the other study, researchers were able to determine how different phrasing and diction swayed the credibility of witness testimony -- with some of the phrasing even mentioning the circumscriptions of…… [Read More]

Memento Analysis Did Leonard Shelby Kill His

Memento Analysis

Did Leonard Shelby Kill His ife?

Memento is the 2000 film by Christopher Nolan that follows Leonard Shelby (Guy Pierce) as he attempts to piece together fragmented memories and facts in an attempt to get revenge on a man that raped and killed his wife. Throughout the film, Shelby is seen interacting with numerous people who grow to become unreliable influences on Shelby and manipulate him to further their own agendas. Given Shelby's anterograde amnesia, much of what he claims to remember, and his subsequent notes, can lead the viewer to question Shelby's memory. hile it can be argued that Shelby killed his wife and simply cannot remember, there is evidence to support the argument that Shelby did not kill his wife.

There is evidence provided in the film that supports the argument that Shelby did not murder his own wife. One of the first pieces of evidence…… [Read More]

Accuracy of Memory Is a

These factors, however, can contribute to bias opinion. Legal professionals also consider occupation in relation to memory accuracy. For example, law enforcement officers tend to be better witnesses as they practice paying attention to detail, and are required to recall details on a regular basis. This overall category pertaining to the attributes of the witness have an effect on encoding and storing information, which are the first two stages of information processing. When these factors influence information processing, any information filtered to long-term memory can be significantly distorted.

The second category considered when establishing the accuracy of an eyewitness's memory is the attributes of the perpetrator. When questioning an eyewitness, legal professionals must inquire if the perpetrator was wearing a disguise, has a distinctive face, or if they were an acquaintance, friend, or family member. Each of these scenarios contributes to the accuracy of the individual's memory. The third general…… [Read More]

Malcolm Fairley Case

Malcolm Fairley

Beginning in April 1984, Malcolm Fairley would burglarize, sexually assault, and rape a number of victims and was becoming bolder with each assault. The braver he become, the more careless and easily startled he was, which would lead to his apprehension in September 1984. Using paint flake analysis, coupled with eyewitness testimony, law enforcement officials were able to track down Fairley and bring him to justice. During the course of subsequent investigation, they found evidence to connect him to various assaults and burglaries, including a facemask made out of a pair of trousers.

During the summer of 1984, the British countryside would be rocked by a series of burglaries, assaults, and rapes committed by an unknown assailant who would become known as "The Fox." "The Fox" prowled the countryside beginning in April when he committed his first burglary until September, when he was identified as Malcolm Fairley and…… [Read More]

Madeleine Mccann Case

Madeleine McCann

When Madeleine McCann's parents put her down to sleep and went out to eat with friends while on holiday in Portugal in at a tapas bar approximately 50 meters from their apartment, they never thought that their 3-year-old daughter would be snatched from their room. While the McCann's immediately reported their daughter's disappearance to Portuguese authorities, massive procedural errors including failure to secure the crime scene, contaminating the scene, and failure to collect evidence have impeded efforts to locate or determine if Madeleine was alive at the time of her disappearance. Portuguese and Scotland Yard continue to probe into Madeleine's disappearance six years after her disappearance as new evidence and eyewitness testimony surfaces.

Madeleine McCann's Disappearance

Madeleine McCann was less than a week from turning 4-years-old when she disappeared from the apartment her family was renting while on holiday in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3,…… [Read More]

Police Honesty

Officer Misconduct

Disclosing Officer Untruthfulness to the Defense: Is a Liar's Squad Coming to Your Town?

Officer misconduct scenario

Police officers must not simply be held to the same standards as members of the public. They must be held to a higher standard. This is illustrated in the following scenario: a police officers is found to have searched for pornographic materials on a work computer and when initially confronted about this violation of department policy he lied, claiming he had no idea how the search history of the pornographic materials made its way onto his computer. He only confessed once the link was made between his log-in information and the search. This combination of dishonesty and poor judgment is a compelling argument for the officer's immediate dismissal, despite the fact that he has an otherwise largely unblemished record.

If an ordinary citizen was found to have been searching pornographic websites…… [Read More]

Comprehensive Analysis of Memory and Forgetting

Memory and Forgetting: A Comprehensive Analysis

Memory loss is a huge problem in an aging population.

No substantive cure for memory loss.

Forgetfulness does not always accompany aging.

Different types of memory loss:

Forgetfulness

Dementia

Alzheimer's

Confusion

The memory impairment that comes with aging may be due to confusion as well as memory loss.

Memory loss and forgetfulness may be preventable.

There are a number of different approaches to reducing forgetfulness

Background music

Categorization

Control

Daily behavioral changes

The goal of the paper began as a meta-analysis of efforts aimed to reduce forgetfulness

Too many promising approaches to aiding memory impairment to engage in a traditional meta-analysis

Look at the theoretical overlap of different known approaches that may enhance or impair memory

F. Not engaging in a meta-analysis of a single therapy because single therapies do not have therapeutic efficacy.

G. Examine the hypothetical overlap between various treatment modalities

II.…… [Read More]

Gilbert Law Evidence Gilbert Law

This type of evidence includes perception and memory, is subjective, and can be inaccurate. Almost all evidence must be sponsored by a witness who has sworn or solemnly affirmed to tell the truth. All persons are presumed to be qualified to serve as witnesses in trials and other legal proceedings, and all persons are also presumed to have a legal obligation to serve as witnesses if their testimony is sought. Witnesses are generally required to give their testimony in the form of statements regarding what they saw, heard, felt, tasted, or smelled, and they are generally forbidden to express opinion or draw conclusions. A person who is not testifying as an expert will be allowed to present an opinion as testimony if his opinion is both rationally based on his perception and helpful to an understanding of his testimony. Opinions of a competent layperson are specifically permitted by rule, statute,…… [Read More]

Psychology - Intro to Forensics

Despite the fact that the field of forensic psychology was formally recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA) as a "subset" in 2001 (Salfati, 2009), aspects of this science have influenced law enforcement long before that. One of the most salient ways it does so is in terms of interviewing people for certain positions -- whether they be formal positions such as an appointment to a law enforcement position or informal ones such as witness and eyewitness testimony.

Various branches of the law have been made cognizant of the fact that individuals who work within law enforcement have a very tenuous, difficult job. There is a significantly greater amount of work -- and psychology -- involved in working as a police officer. Therefore, within the past several years law enforcement officials have included personality tests as part of the testing for police officers (Salfati, 2009). Although these tests are far…… [Read More]

Ethics in Research an Error

When ordinary 'beat cops' act unethically, it immediately garners negative media attention because it affects the public in such a visceral and immediate fashion. Police officers are the average citizen's main source of contact with the justice system and so they are carefully watched. However, prosecutors may decide to proceed with a prosecution despite questionable evidence or act unethically in other ways, and unless it comes to the media's attention or there is very stringent oversight over the office from an outside authority, prosecutors' transgressions may go unnoticed. Prosecutors and police officers both have the most serious and complex obligations of members of the justice system: not to get a conviction, but to pursue justice.

What suggestions might you offer to avoid errors in human inquiry?

First and foremost, to prevent errors in human inquiry causing errors in judgment, it is essential that members of law enforcement staff are cognizant…… [Read More]

Drm Effect

Warning on False Memory ate

DM Effect

Effect of Explicit Warning on False Memory ate

False memories are a prevalent phenomenon that interferes with a variety of important tasks, such as eyewitness testimony. They can occur during the encoding, storing, or recalling phase of the memory-making process. esearchers have discovered that through association, the mind can encode events as authentic memories even though they never occurred. Associative memory illusions can be revealed using an experimental paradigm called the DM Effect, which presents related word lists to study subjects and tests whether closely associated, but unpresented items become encoded into memory. The ability to discriminate between presented and unpresented items depends on the ability of subjects to monitor the memory task and this can be tested by warning subjects in advance of the possibility of associated memory illusions. Previous studies have shown that the efficacy of monitoring can be increased by…… [Read More]

John Snow Father Epidemiology Pioneering

S. History, 2011).

Only after aggressive government intervention did the Dust Bowl conditions improve. The government, even before the drought was broken in 1939, was able to reduce soil erosion by 65% through the actions of the Civilian Conservation Corps, which planted 200 million trees to "break the wind, hold water in the soil, and hold the soil itself in place" ("Disasters: The 1930s," U.S. History, 2011). Farmers received instruction by the government on "soil conservation and anti-erosion techniques, including crop rotation, strip farming, contour plowing, terracing and other beneficial farming practices" ("Disasters: The 1930s," U.S. History, 2011). For the first time, the government took an interest not simply in preserving some of its land from development in the form of national parks, but gave counsel to farmers how to use the land.

The gap between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots,' already wide even before the Great Depression, grew into…… [Read More]

Static Learning in the 21st

Millions of dollars are spent on test-prep manuals, books, computer programs and worksheets (Gluckman, 2002). Static/captive learning can help teachers around the nation prepare their students for standardized testing.

Significance of the Study to Leadership

A principal is the leader of the campus. The challenge for the principal is to know his or her district's mandated curriculum and make sure teachers are able to deliver it (Shipman & Murphy, 2001). As the key decision-maker for the use of time and space, principals must be aware of how the use of time and space affects instruction. Principals need to know how best to use assessment data based on relevant content standards with teachers, school communities. Improved student learning is always the focus of assessment.

ecause of high stakes testing, teachers are always assessing to monitor student progress and plan the scope and sequence of instruction. Principals can work to structure school…… [Read More]

Manson v Brathwaite the Government Prosecuted Respondent

Manson v. Brathwaite, the government prosecuted respondent and he was convicted of possession and sale of heroin. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the dismissal of respondent's petition for habeas corpus relief, with orders to issue the writ unless the government gave notice to retry respondent and the new trial took place within a reasonable time. The government sought certiorari review.

Respondent, on a claim for habeas relief, proposed a per se rule of barring that he claimed was dictated by the demands of the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of due process. The Court used the entirety of the conditions test and concluded that the criteria appropriate in determining the acceptability of evidence offered by the prosecution in relation to identification were suitably met and complied with in respondent's case. The Court reasoned that the factors that had to be measured included the occasion of the…… [Read More]

Lindbergh Kidnapping

Lindbergh Kidnapping

Lindberg Kidnapping

The Lindberg kidnapping was one of, and the most to some, notorious crime and/or kidnapping in the 20th century. The ways and means that had to be used given the targets of the kidnapping, what happened to the child after being taken and so forth all change crime scene and death investigations in general forever. There is plenty of controversy associated with the crime even though the man convicted was given a chance to have his life spared the death penalty if he copped to the crime but he refused and he also refused a pay-off from a local publication.

One of the things that jumps out to the author of this report is that the convicted man, Mr. Hauptmann, was able to at least delay his death sentence if he just admitted he did it but he ostensibly either did and refused to give the…… [Read More]

Emotions Memory and Freud

Emotions and Memory

Emotions, memory, and Freud

Emotion and memory

Describe how emotion influences memory for details and how non-emotional events are remembered.

Emotion can have a measurable impact on what and how different environmental stimuli are recorded in one's memory. Because emotional arousal facilitates storage -- "neuroimaging studies demonstrate amygdala activation during the encoding of emotionally laden stimuli" -- memory recall is enhanced "for information presented in a (negatively) emotional context" (Anderson & Shimamura 2005: 323). However, there is also contradictory evidence to this supposition given "studies of eyewitness memory and psychological trauma suggest reduced or distorted memory under emotional stress" (Anderson & Shimamura 2005: 324). This paradox is partially explained by the fact that because "emotional events produce a narrowing of attentional focus for emotional stimulus" -- the brain tends to focus on only one thing and thus can create a distorted memory (Anderson & Shimamura 2005: 324).…… [Read More]

Movie Analysis of Criminal Justice Film

Twelve Angry Men

Criminal Justice

Courts and procedures in the film version of Twelve Angry Men (1957).

The title of the film Twelve Angry Men (1957) is somewhat misleading: there are actually eleven angry men depicted in the film and one rational man who is capable of seeing the facts. The classic courtroom drama depicts twelve male jurors who have recently heard a trial where a young Puerto ican boy stands accused of the murder of his father. At the beginning of the film, all of the jurors (and the weary judge) seem resolved to convict the defendant. They believe the case is open and shut. The one exception is a single juror who refuses, based upon his belief that when a man's life is at stake, no decision can be made lightly. The movie (actually a filmed stage play, given its static nature) dramatizes how the other jurors come…… [Read More]

Truth and Photography The Relationship

Annie Leibovitz's images of celebrities in costume or a photographer who dresses him or herself up as a different persona in a clearly ironic fashion (such as a woman who might dressed in drag to show the culturally constructed nature of gender) may be examples of more emotionally and intellectually truthful forms of photography than candid snapshots that falsely show a happy family.

Even a journalist taking photographs of a subject can create an inaccurate image, simply by cropping a photograph, or providing or not providing a particular type of caption. A city undergoing difficult economic times can be made to look even worse than it actually is, if the journalist only shows photographs of the worst sections of town, not the areas which are thriving. This has been called 'ruin porn' -- where journalists crop out images of prosperity to create a more convincing visual depiction of blight (Garfield…… [Read More]

Capital Punishment the Legally Authorized

e should be thankful for this amazing technological development," (Hatch, 2000).

The death penalty must be altered, not abolished. In all new cases, if DNA evidence is not provided as conclusive for the conviction of the arrested, then capital punishment should not even be a consideration. There are already appeals processes in place for those who presently serve on Death Row, and in many of these cases, the inmates have pleaded for DNA testing. This should be executed on a case-by-case basis, pending the jurisdiction of the local judicial system. It was found in the research for this analysis that many of the authors who approve of using DNA testing for exoneration, oppose DNA evidence that has been presented during the time of trial. Much like those who oppose the death penalty and those who support it, there will be continued debate over this new science, which is offering legendary…… [Read More]

Perceiving the World

Human Perception: Your perceptual systems can sometimes lead you to misinterpret objects and situations. hat are some things you can do to help yourself reduce such misjudgments?

The cliche is that 'seeing is believing.' But simply because the eyes may convince a person to believe something is true, does not mean that this apparently certain vision of veracity is a realistic reflection of a 'true' and objective reality. The most obvious example of the faulty nature of human perceptions is an optical illusion. A picture of an old woman, for instance, can also appear to be the portrait of a young woman, depending on how the viewer first glances at the picture. Another, more serious example of the faulty nature of human perception is the so-called 'Rashmon' effect, where several people see the same event, such as a car crash, yet perceive it differently, depending on their personal and perceptual…… [Read More]

Traditional Crime Policy Over the Last Several

Traditional Crime Policy

Over the last several decades, the policy approach that is used in enforcing the law has been increasingly brought to the forefront. This is because there has been a sharp rise in the crime rates around the world since the end of World War II. At first, these increases were believed to be a part of the adverse changes from the war and its impact on society. (Gilling)

However, by the 1950s it was obvious that society was facing tremendous challenges with these rates. In response, a series of studies were conducted to effectively deal with the root causes of criminal activity (by focusing on the pathology of the individual). This created heated debates between traditional and evidence based advocates, who believed that the current approach can address these issues (by serving as a deterrent for everyone). (Gilling)

As a result, tough sentences were handed down to…… [Read More]

Moliere Tartuffe Acts III-IV the Third and

Moliere Tartuffe Acts III-IV

The third and fourth acts of Moliere's comedy Tartuffe raise the drama to a climactic confrontation which resolves in an unexpected direction at the end of Act III, allowing for a new twist in the final act. The third act centers around the actual introduction of Tartuffe -- whom we have heard described from the play's opening but have not yet met. His entrance does not disappoint, filled with lofty religious musings and a willingness to call attention to Dorine's bosom while pretending that it summons in him impure thoughts. Elmire, meanwhile, is planning to use her influence with Tartuffe in order to cancel his ludicrous plan to marry Mariane (in order to get her money). Elmire's private meeting with Tartuffe, and Act III Scene iii of Moliere's Tartuffe is, to a certain extent, the moment that the audience has been waiting for from the beginning…… [Read More]

Terri Schiavo Case on February 25 1990-

Terri Schiavo Case

On February 25, 1990- to 26-year-old Terri Schindler Schiavo collapsed in her home and was admitted to the Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg Florida. Although her collapse was inexplicable, it would later be attributed to an eating disorder. Unfortunately Terri Schiavo was diagnosed with hypoxic encephalopathy, a "brain injury caused by oxygenation starvation to the brain." ("Timeline") Although originally claiming that he wanted to care for her for the remainder of his life, by 1993 Terri's husband, Michael, then claimed that she would not want to be kept alive in this condition. After a number of years of legal battles between Terri's husband and her family, the Schindlers, a court decided in the year 2000 that life support should be removed and Terri allowed to die. However, Terri's parents appealed this decision and won a temporary stay on the removal of her feeding tube. Then, after a…… [Read More]

Biblical Law

Bible and criminal procedures

It is gratifying to read the Bible's teachings on matters pertaining to the criminal justice system such as witnesses given the parallels they have with our own contemporary notions of fair and just actions. The Bible counsels that it is not enough to have a single witness to condemn an individual; in the United States, although there is not a formal requirement of a specific number of witnesses during a trial unlike the Bible, there is growing awareness that eyewitness testimony can be biased and in general the prosecutor must bring forth a variety of evidence to warrant a conviction before a jury. The Bible also mandates the need for cross-examination and the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution specifically gives all defendants the right to confront their accusers. The Bible also punishes false witnesses and in the U.S. perjury is a crime. Perjury is not…… [Read More]

How Steven Avery Was Exonerated in 2003

Wrongful Conviction of Steven Avery

Steven Avery was arrested in 1985 for the rape of Penny Beernsten, even though his family testified as to his whereabouts at the exact moment the crime took place. 18 years later, Avery was exonerated via DNA evidence, in which a hair from the crime scene was matched to Gregory Allen (who was actually suspected of committing the crime at the time but whom law enforcement agents neglected to pursue because of an apparent vendetta they had against Avery and their desire to see him behind bars). Manitowoc County District Attorney Denis Vogel was particularly complicit in this wrongful conviction (Griesbach, 2011; Messer, 2016).

Avery and his family had gotten under the skin of authorities in their neighborhood. Avery himself had a record of reckless and mildly deviant behavior. However, his big mistake was offending his cousin, who also happened to be the wife of…… [Read More]

Print Culture and the 1863 Detroit Riot

Pint Cultue and the 1863 Detoit Riot

Poposal fo a Pape: Pint Cultue in Black and White: Rhetoical Stategies of Racial Identification in a Thilling Naative, fom the Lips of the Suffees of the Late Detoit Riot, Mach 6, 1863.

The ace iot that occued in Mach 1863 in Detoit would have lasting consequences fo the city -- among them, it occasioned the foundation of Detoit's fist pemanent police depatment. But the question of to what degee the iot began as a ace iot is still left open: thee is some eason to believe that, like the Civil Wa daft iots in New Yok City and elsewhee, it may have begun as a less acially-motivated episode of mob violence that settled upon Detoit's black community as its ultimate taget. Histoians of the episode all agee, howeve, that the climate which pemitted the iot had been established by Detoit's local newspapes,…… [Read More]

Innocence Project on October 21

While black men can be incredibly diverse-looking, she may focus on those features that tend to differentiate them from white men. This is a risk in any cross-racial identification, where someone may notice differences from their own ethnic group, but fail to look beyond those features that stand out as "other" in his mind, which makes any person in that racial group a possible suspect.

In fact, it is impossible to overplay the role that misidentification has played in so many wrongful convictions. It is difficult for many people to realize that DNA evidence did not play a role in older convictions; the technology simply was not available. Furthermore, when DNA evidence first became available, it was a new technology that was not fully understood by all of the actors in the criminal justice system. In those early times, there were investigators, prosecutors, and fact finders who would believe a…… [Read More]

Individuals Who See and Later Recall the

individuals who see and later recall the same event produce markedly discrepant accounts. Aside from motivational factors (such as dishonesty) or personal differences in memory capacity there are a number of factors relevant to affecting the accuracy information recalled from long-term memory. One of the first things to consider when comparing different recollections of the same events is to consider under what conditions the respondents encoded the information which they later recalled. Important encoding conditions include the length of time the incident occurred (longer events result in more accurate recall) and any possible distracting circumstances that were present during the event that could interfere with encoding. However, perhaps the most important consideration concerns the preconceived notions of the eye of the beholder. A person encoding information that will be stored into long-term memory is not like a video camera. People view the world through preconceived notions or schema that frame…… [Read More]

Joseph Smith and the Book

On June 27, 1844, hundreds swarmed the jail and brutally murdered the Smith brothers, leading their followers to conclude that they were martyred (Sisk).

At Joseph's death, righam Young was president of the Twelve Apostles of their church and became the leader of the largest faction within (Sisk 1992). Some who separated from Young's group formed their own, called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, under the leadership of one of the brothers of Joseph Smith. In 1846, Young's group declared that the "saints" would leave Nauvoo and they settled in Utah the following year and, for the next 20 or so years, many moved to Salt Lake Valley to join those "saints (Sisk)." The growth was so tremendous that many ascribe greater magnetism to Young than to Joseph himself in attracting followers. It is noted that the current-day Mormon Church has millions of such followers…… [Read More]

Male and Female Students Use

Her evaluation is certainly effective, in that it points out the underlying structure of eyewitness news and shows us how it is more entertainment, rather than information.

All's Not Well in the Land of the Lion King

Lazarus feels that the Disney film the Lion King does harm to children by reinforcing common cultural stereotypes of gays and African-Americans.

Lazarus's essay is persuasive in the examples she gives. But she could have been more elaborate in providing evidence as to how these stereotypes affect the developing minds of children.

Death and Justice

In this essay, Koch explains his defense of capital punishment by considering the arguments against capital punishment. This is a clever means of elucidating a clear, lucid, logical stance, which Koch manages to do within the course of the essay.

The problem with Koch's essay is that he neglects to address the real reasons why the Untied States…… [Read More]

Federal Rules of Evidence the

Rule: Any out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted is generally inadmissible as hearsay. (801-802) However, hearsay may be admitted, in a prosecution for homicide or in a civil case, if the declarant, while believing the declarant's death to be imminent, made the statement about its cause or circumstances. (804(b)(2).

Application: Here, the defense attorney's objection is premised on the fact that the deceased Sam's statements are I inadmissible as hearsay, as an out-of-court statement by a person unavailable for trial, offered to prove that the other driver was driving on the wrong side of the road. However, Trooper Jones may offer this statement because it falls under the (804(b)(2) hearsay exception, as a statement in a civil case that the declarant made while his death was imminent.

Conclusion: The basis for the defense attorney's objection is hearsay because the deceased Sam's statement is an out-of-court…… [Read More]

Turning Point in the Life

In other words, did Grisham begin writing in order to reveal the innate ambiguities and machinations of the legal system - or were there other unrecognized facets and factors at play that led to this turning point in his life?

These questions become even more pronounced when we take into account his expressed views about his own writing. In many interviews, Grisham tends to assert that his literary work is not of a very serious or profound nature and instead of having any deeper social intentions his writings are essentially only meant to entertain. As he states in one interview:

I'm not sure where that line goes between literature and popular fiction...I can assure you I don't take myself serious enough to think I'm writing literary fiction and stuff that's going to be remembered in 50 years. I'm not going to be here in 50 years; I don't care if…… [Read More]

Death Penalty as Justified Murder

However, the reasons why people commit crime are as different as the individuals themselves. Intentional murder comes in two different flavors. The first is the carefully plotted, well thought out, planned act. In this scenario, motivational theory takes over. The person must feel that they will gain some type of value from the action. It may be that they gain something, such as money, or they may feel that eliminating a person will offer them some type of protection. In any case, the person justifies their actions through a perceived reward in the future (Horisch and Strassmair).

In the case of an intentional murder, the death penalty may deter the action. However, several conditions must be met for the fear of death to act as a deterrent. The person must feel that there is a significant possibility that they will be caught and punished for their crimes. In many cases,…… [Read More]

IT Security Lang David A

This makes it easier for investigators to identify connections by clicking on a particular item in the three-dimensional link.

The difficulties of this process of proving such a chain indicates the importance of creating steps that can help companies simplify the task of conducting a computer forensic investigation, should one ever be required. The article stresses that the most important step is to ensure that network logging devices are turned on, even though these devices use disk space and processor time. If they are turned off, investigations can become impossible. Closing any unneeded ports on the company firewall and patching systems regularly, are also helpful.

This article paints an overall benign portrait of law enforcement, zealously protecting user privacy and safety. It demonstrates how an apparently invisible crime can be rendered visible through the use of technology, and both the law and law enforcement's attempts to stay one step ahead…… [Read More]

Eye Witness Identification and Memory

Eye Witness Memory and Identification

In the contemporary legal environment, an eyewitness plays a critical role in the legal system. A correct eyewitness identification has helped in advancing an investigation, and can be used to solve a complex case. Despite the importance of eyewitness identification in a legal system, eyewitness misidentification is being identified as the contributing factor to wrongful convictions based on the DNA testing. Typically, the eyewitness misidentification leads to 70% of wrongful convictions based on the DNA evidence in the United States. In cases after cases, it has been proven by the DNA that eyewitnesses are mostly inaccurate. For example, a review of 311 cases reveals that 73% of the convictions have been due to the eyewitness errors leading to wrongful convictions. Evidence have also revealed that eyewitness identifications can sway strong alibis, juries and police. Unfortunately, the memory of some eyewitnesses is either unable to recall…… [Read More]