Erroneous eyewitness testimony — whether offered in good faith or perjured — is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions in the U.S. criminal justice system.
Yet the extent of the problem — and, for that matter, the extent of any of the myriad other problems known to lead to wrongful convictions — can never be known, for the simple reason that it is visible only when innocence is clearly established; erroneous eyewitness identifications in cases in which innocence cannot be proved are permanently out of sight.
Case Examples of Erroneous Eyewitness Identification:
Remedies for Erroneous Eyewitness Identification:
The lineup protocol endorsed by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Center on Wrongful Convictions, and the MacArthur Justice Center would replace the current lineup procedure with a sequential, double-blind procedure. Presenting suspects to witnesses sequentially rather than side by side reduces the tendency of witnesses to make relative judgments, which often are inaccurate. The double-blind aspect, under which the investigator administering the identification procedure does not know who the suspect is, reduces the possibility that witnesses will be improperly influenced to chose a particular individual.