Across many topics, eyewitness testimony remains a vivacious research area. The American Psychology-Law Society lists more than 1,400 references on the topic from 1883 and 2006. Eyewitness testimony research established roots as a research area in psychology over 100 years ago in Germany. There existed a strong German interest in eyewitness testimony (Sporer, 2006), and
Every year in North America at least 75,000 people are identified from police lineups and subsequently prosecuted. There are hundreds of documented cases in which mistaken eyewitness identification has led to false imprisonment. Although it is impossible to know how often eyewitnesses make mistakes, it is known that mistakes are made. For example, of approximately
As society becomes increasingly more diverse culturally and linguistically, translated testimony will become a more frequent component of the American justice system. Due to the complex nature of the translation process, errors and misunderstandings of interpreted testimony are nearly unavoidable and can affect jurors’ perceptions of a trial. Misjudgments may occur due to the inadvertent
Under the Federal Rules of Evidence and virtually all state codes, expertise is defined by the nature and scope of the proffered opinion. The basic issue with regard to a qualifications assessment is whether the witness has the background to support his or her intended testimony. An expert must be qualified to “assist the trier
The rules of evidence regarding the admissibility of hearsay testimony are complex, but in general, the law treats hearsay as inadmissible evidence. A number of exceptions to this general rule exist, however, and psychologists have conducted research to examine how jurors evaluate and use hearsay testimony in their decision making. No simple conclusions can be
Children may experience or witness crime and may need to provide reports to authorities. Children’s eyewitness accounts can contain critical information about serious acts such as murder, domestic violence, kidnapping, and assault. Child sexual abuse is particularly likely to bring children into contact with the criminal justice system because the case may boil down to
When children are involved in trials as witnesses, victims, or defendants, jurors must decide whether they are credible and how to weigh their testimony in reaching a verdict. Thus, although much psychological research focuses on the actual accuracy of children’s eyewitness testimony, it is also important to consider their perceived accuracy. Research reveals that jurors
Expert psychological testimony, like any testimony, must meet certain criteria or standards for admissibility before it is allowed into court. Although the admissibility of expert evidence was initially governed by the general acceptance standard set in Frye v. United States (1923), more recent standards, including the Federal Rules of Evidence, have shifted focus to an
Psychologists occasionally testify about the factors that influence eyewitness identification accuracy in criminal cases in which eyewitness identification is a pivotal issue. Considerable research has addressed the need for this testimony and its impact on the jury. Typically, the expert witness is trained in cognitive or social psychology and has published scholarly work about eyewitness
In the courtroom, it is often the testimony of a witness that determines whether an alleged perpetrator will be convicted of a crime. Courtroom testimony from a witness in a civil case can determine how that case is resolved. When crimes such as murder or rape occur (or, in the realm of civil law, when