Relevance and Reliability of Eyewitness Testimony in Court.
The cognitive interview increases the credibility of eyewitness testimony by decreasing memory error and confabulations. Information is the lifeblood of a criminal investigation.
Different studies were done to test and improve the accuracy of eyewitness testimony in children as well as correct memory recall. One of these tests is the Event Report Training (ERT), this is a training procedure intended to help the improvement of the memory recall of children and at the same time to reduce suggestibility.
Eyewitness testimony is when a witness comes forward within the courtroom to give their account of what occurred in relation to the trial which is based upon human perception and memory (Geoffrey M Stephenson, 1992 Psychology of Criminal Justice, p161.) “The reliability of eye witness testimony is a vastly complex subject” (Bruce Schneir 2012).
An eyewitness testimony is the evidence given in court or a police investigation, by someone who has witnessed a crime or accident. tutor2u Subjects Events Job board Shop Company Support Main menu.
Eyewitness testimony is the evidence provided in court by a person who witnessed a crime, with a view to identifying the perpetrator. Eyewitness testimony is a compelling device used within the realm of the criminal justice system, because it is a promptly conventional type of substantiation of the facts that sanction guilty verdicts.
Loftus and Palmer (1974) Study. Aim: To test their hypothesis that the language used in eyewitness testimony can alter memory. Thus, they aimed to show that leading questions could distort eyewitness testimony accounts and so have a confabulating effect, as the account would become distorted by cues provided in the question.
The accuracy of an individual’s memory comes into question as it could lead to wrongful conviction. Some factors affecting accuracy of eyewitness reports include confirmation bias, misinformation effect and influence of violence and anxiety. The first part of the essay will explain these factors; the second part will discuss the ability to.