Key Question

Question 1

Identify your criminal key question

Answer 1

Is eyewitness testimony too unreliable to trust?

Question 2

Describe what eyewitness testimony is

Answer 2

-EWT is evidence supplied by people who witness specific events of crime, relying on only their memory to recall the event
-it plays an important role in court cases as if an eyewitness can confidently identify a suspect and confirm they saw the, commit the crime, they can persuade the jury to believe them
-EWT is very useful and important as its a first person account of the crime, and is very valuable particularly if no DNA evidence can be provided

Question 3

Explain why society needs to question the reliability of EWT?

Answer 3

-as EWT is not completely reliable, it could lead to innocent people being falsely sent to jail consistently, leading to society losing trust in the criminal justice system, meaning crimes go unreported for fear of misidentification
-a real example of this happening is when Jennifer Thompson wrongly identified Ronald Cotton as her raper, resulting in him spending 11 years in jail before he was found not guilty

Question 4

What did the devein report find?

Answer 4

That eyewitness evidence alone should not be enough to convict

Question 5

What is the innocence project?

Answer 5

-in 2015, the innocence project identified that 72% of wrongful convictions were due to eyewitness misidentification, showing how this is a key issue in society.

Question 6

Apply the theory of the weapon focus effect to suggest if eyewitness testimony is unreliable

Answer 6

-in violent crimes when the perpetrator is carrying a weapon such as a gun or a knife our brains natural tendency is to zoom in on that as the main source of stress
-this means that eyewitness recall for other important details such as what the perpetrator looked like is likely to be forgotten or misremembered. This is explained by the tunnel theory form of selective attention

Question 7

Apply the theory of leading questions to suggest if eyewitness testimony is unreliable

Answer 7

-acts as a form of post event information and triggers schemas in the way in which questions are phrased when the witness is asked about their memory of the event
-leading questions as those that lead a person to a specific answer, potentially distorting their own memory recall

Question 8

Apply the theory of post event information to suggest if eyewitness testimony is unreliable

Answer 8

-any information that arrives after an event that may affect or distort and eyewitnesses memory of what really happened
-human memory is reconstructive and it does not record events in exact detail instead it fits memories within pre-existing frameworks of expectations and passed knowledge known as schemas

Question 9

Apply the theory of the influence of anxiety to suggest if eyewitness testimony is unreliable

Answer 9

-if anxiety is low eyewitness recall is likely to be poor as attention is not paid to the details of the crime
-as anxiety increases so does eyewitness accuracy of recall because interest and attention is higher to the event. It reaches an optimal anxiety level given optimum eyewitness testimony accuracy
-however if anxiety gets too high and exceeds the optimum eyewitness accuracy will fall to a very low level due to the overwhelming amount of stress

Question 10

Apply the theory of flashbulb memories to suggest if eyewitness testimony is unreliable

Answer 10

-flashbulb memory is an accurate and exceptionally vivid long lasting memory for the circumstances surrounding learning about a dramatic event
-they are affected by our emotional state
-The analogy behind it is that you often remember where you were, what you were doing, how you were informed, and how you reacted, like the whole scene was illuminated by a flashbulb
-The vividness and accuracy of them can vary across age and culture

Question 11

Evaluate how reliable eyewitness testimony is

Answer 11

1. Pickle = experiment using scissors a handgun a wallet or a row chicken as the handheld item in a hairdressing salon video. Eyewitness accuracy was poorer in the unusualness conditions (chicken and handgun). This suggests it is the unusualness of an object causing the weapon focus effect rather than the anxiety of the weapon.
2. Yuille and Cutshall = conducted a study of a real life shooting in a gun shop. They found that witnesses were very accurate in their accounts and there was little change in the amount of accuracy after five months. Those with highest levels of stress with the most accurate in their recall. This suggests high anxiety levels may improve eyewitness accuracy and not hinder it
3. Kohnken = students participated in a study about sport and psychological well-being. Two groups, one exposed to white coated female experimenter with a syringe other group no syringe but a pen. Group 2 were more likely to identify experimenter accurately. This shows the effect of the weapon focus as syringe presented as a possible threat detracting from other details
4. Christian and Hubinette = found that bank teller victims of a real robbery had the highest anxiety levels whilst bystanders had the lowest anxiety levels. Several months later all witnesses had interviews and all showed generally good memory for detail with the most anxious having the highest accuracy of recall. Supports highest anxiety does not hinder EWT