Eyewitness Testimony Essay, Research Paper

Eyewitness Testimony

Eyewitness testimony is a controversial issue that separates people into two groups, those that support eyewitness testimony and those that do not. When an eyewitness identifies an individual as the person who committed the crime, the evidence can be very convincing. But there are many cases when eyewitnesses falsely accused a suspect, putting them in jail.

The use of eyewitness testimony is a common to influence the conviction of a suspect. A psychologist by the name of Elizabeth Loftus did extensive research on this topic, finding that the memory of these people can be very imprecise. Deplorable acts such as a murder or other of act of violence can disturb a person?s ability to remember clearly. Without a strong memory of the incident, the witness may reconstruct the scene adding misinformation into the account. Basing their claim on the facts presented above, many people do not believe eyewitness testimony is a good tool for conviction. The jurors tend to lean toward the witnesses? side and believe what they are being told. In some cases eyewitness testimony can hurt the innocent suspect rather than help him.

Supporters of the eyewitness testimony stand on the other side of this argument. Although people can forget the details of a face or place, they are sometimes the only lead in a case. Those people with eidetic memory, also know as photographic memory, make the best witness. Because they can remember situations with detail close to a picture, they will have the least amount of distortion and will provide an accurate description of the setting.

I consider the use of eyewitness testimony to be very important in a case, and should be used. Many suspects and criminals would be set free if it were not for the use of eyewitness evidence.