debate : EWT Flashcards
points to make in the introduction
- whether the evidence from psychological research can support the reliance of EWT and the implication of inaccurate testimony
- in 1969, Laszlo Virag was convicted of inaccurate testimony of stealing from parking metres and using a firearm. had an alibi but was identified by an eyewitness so was imprisoned. whilst serving his sentence it was found someone else committed the crime so he was pardones
- recommended that EWT shouldn’t be used alone, never made a law
-questionable as to whether EWT are reliable enough to be used in todays society.
points to make in the cinclusion
- lots of evidence to suggest that EWT can be very unreliable. inaccuracies can happen which makes it an important debate, consequences can be catastrophic to peoples lives.
- huff et al reported nearly 60% of 500 cases of wrongful convictions involved inaccurate EWT
-however sometimes EWT is the only evidence so can’t be completely discredited. - unreliable EWT are very expensive (retrials/compensation)
-social implication : risk society might face if the real perpetrator walks free - so, EWT should be used to accompany other evidence not used on its own
3 part of the debate
children
post-event information
role of emotion
opening sentence for children
several studies have been conducted to consider the extent of which testimonys by children should be considered
evidence for childrens testimonys
case of Samantha runnion
samantha’s friend sarah (5) was able to give police a detailed description of the man and details about his car. samantha was kidnapped and her body later found. sarah witnessed Samantha’s abduction. from her EWT police knew to look for a Hispanic man with slick back black hair and a moustache, driving a green car. alejandro aliva was arrested and charged with murder following sarah’s desription
stregnth of evidence for children as EWT
this shows accuracy of the EWT of children and how useful it can be when hunting a criminal in a case such as thus. sarah’s testimony was only used when there was other evidence to back it up
evidence against children as eye witnesses
weakness
the McMartin pre-school case. when a worker form the daycare was accused of molesting a child, police took this very seriously and 400 children were interviewed and 150 given medical exams. initially children denied seeing any abuse. with leading questions many gave the stories that were wanted. during the court case, children gave bizarre and inconsistent accounts of events at the school. children were eager to please authority figures and are susceptible to coercive interview techniques
mini conclusion
this suggest children are less reliable eyewitnesses than adults even though it’s possible for children to provide accurate testimony, information should be treated cautiously and would need to be supported by other evidence
opening sentence post-even info
in consideration of the reliability of EWT we might also consider how post-event information may influence recall as its possible that eyewitnesses could receive info after the event from various people
evidence for post-event info
loftus conducted research in 1979 which gave evidence to support the reliability of EWT. she showed pps images of a man stealing a red urse from a womens bag. The participants were given misleading information designed to make them believe the purses brown.
Use a statement that said the purse is brown. This supports the reliability of eyewitness testimony being reliable because even despite the incorrect information being given 98% of participants record the purse being red 
strength of post event information leading to reliable EWT
this is a strength and it shows the accuracy of EWT can be extremely accurate despite information designed to coerce
evidence against post event information leading to reliable EW T
The loftus and Zanni evidence is an argument against EWT being reliable. they found 7% of PPS that were asked “did you see a headlight ?” reported seeing one . Whereas when asked “did you see the broken headlight” 17% of those reported seeing one.
mini conclusion post - even information
this suggests that the post event information research shows EWT isn’t completely reliable and that post event information can influence the recollection of an incident. This means the accuracy of EWT will be reduced. It is possible for witnesses to provide accurate information however we should treat this with caution.
opening sentence role of emotion
another factor to consider in the reliability of eyewitness testimony is the role of emotion
evidence for role of emotion
Christianson and Hubinette researched whether emotion affected the accuracy of EWT. found that emotional arousal can actually enhance the accuracy of memory.
Found that when they question 58 real witnesses to bank robberies the witnesses who have been threatened were more accurate in their recall , they remembered more details compared to those who were just onlookers. even out of 15 months, this was still the case.
