CBS 60 Minutes Reports on Flaws in Eyewitness Identification
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CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl provided an in-depth analysis on the flaws of eyewitness identification. Stahl tells the compelling story of a rape victim named Jennifer Thompson. She picked Ronald Cotton out of a photo array and Cotton was arrested. After she picked him out of a lineup, Cotton was put on trial and convicted. While in prison, Cotton ran into a man named Bobby Poole and they looked a lot alike. In fact, the prisoners and guards would even mistakenly call each other by the other name. Eventually, Cotton was exonerated by DNA evidence, and it was shown that Poole committed the crime.
The story goes on analyze some issues involved with the identification. First, Stahl reports that it is often the case that the real perpetrator is not in the photo array.
"When you're sittin' in front of a photo lineup, you just assume one of these guys is the suspect. It's my job to find it," Thompson explained.
"Bobby Poole's photograph was not in the photo lineup," Thompson told Stahl. "He was not in the physical lineup.""When the real perpetrator is not in the set, is none of them, witnesses have a very difficult time being able to recognize that," explained Gary Wells, a professor of psychology at Iowa State University.
Wells goes on to state that eyewitness ID's are very persuasive because the victim has no reason to lie. However he says, that if a person sees someone that did the crime, it would trigger recognition memory.
"Recognition memory is actually quite rapid. So we find in our studies, for example, that if somebody's taking longer than ten, 15 seconds, it's quite likely that they're doing something other than just using reliable recognition memory."
Wells continues and states that the biggest issue is the reinforcement factor after an identification. After the choice, the detective or officer familiar with the case and the victim often say good job or you made the right choice. This makes the victim feel they did it right, and become more positive about their choice.
[Wells] says the solution is to have someone independent administer the lineup, someone who doesn't even know who the suspect is. And certainly not the detective on the case.
Don't be quick to discount eyewitness identification - it has been the most prominent and valuable tool in putting away criminals. While there are cases such as this one, which are heart-wrenching, the police officer was doing his job by the book. Yet, in many cases such as this, the wrongly convicted still goes after the officer and the police department for civil liability. In a case like this, that lawsuit would be inappropriate and frivolous (but it still happens everyday). It is important to note that Cotton did not sue the police department and received 10,000/year for each of the 11 years from the state of North Carolina.
