1 David Myers Chapter 15 - 11e Dr. Noelle Scuderi ©2013 McGraw-Hill Companies How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony? � The Power of Persuasive Eyewitnesses � In cases with no eyewitness testimony the conviction rate is only 18 percent; WITH eyewitness testimony the conviction rate skyrockets to 72 percent � Discrediting the eyewitness may reduce the number of guilty votes, but unless contradicted by another eyewitness, a vivid eyewitness account is difficult to erase from jurors’ minds! � In staged theft experiments, both correct & incorrect eyewitnesses were believed 80% of the time! (Wells et al., 1979) � Jurors are skeptical of eyewitnesses whose memory of trivial details is poor, even though they are often the most accurate witnesses! 2 How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony? � When Eyes Deceive � Eyewitnesses are often more confident than correct! � Multiple studies have demonstrated an approximately 20 point spread between percent confidence and percent correct, leading to a 20% incidence of mistaken identification! � Strong emotions and traumas may corrupt eyewitness memories � Ex. In high stress, interrogation situation where the interrogators were clearly visible, only 30% could accurately identify the interrogator, versus 62% in a low-stress interrogation scenario (Morgan et al., 2004) How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony? � The Misinformation Effect (Elizabeth Loftus) � Incorporating “misinformation” into one’s memory of the event after witnessing an event and receiving misleading information about it � How introduced? � Children are especially susceptible � “Imagination inf lation” � Retelling � Commits people to their recollections, whether they are accurate or not � Adjusting our retelling to please our audience may result in us altering our own memory of the event 3 How to Increase the Reliability of Eyewitnesses & Jurors? � Train police interviewers to use cognitive interviews � Allow uninterrupted retelling by witness having them start with visualizing the scene & explaining the setting � The follow up with questions on whether there was anything unusual about . . . � Minimize false lineup identifications � 10-12 second rule � Remind witnesses that the culprit may not be in the lineup � Use blind testing, control grps or blank lineups & Sequential lineups � Use Scripted and neutral questions – no feedback � Educate jurors about pitfalls of eyewitness testimony What Other Factors Influence Juror Judgments? � The Defendant’s Characteristics � Physical attractiveness � Similarity to the jurors (including race) � Social or Socio-economic status � The Judge’s Instructions � Ignoring inadmissible evidence that has already been heard by jurors is very difficult (including pretrial publicity) � Sometimes being asked to ignore evidence can give that evidence even more impact - ? Why ? � Severity of the potential sentence 4 What Influences the Indiv.

1. 1
David Myers
Chapter 15 - 11e
Dr. Noelle Scuderi
©2013 McGraw-Hill Companies
How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony?
� The Power of Persuasive Eyewitnesses
� In cases with no eyewitness testimony the conviction
rate is only 18 percent; WITH eyewitness testimony the
conviction rate skyrockets to 72 percent
� Discrediting the eyewitness may reduce the number of guilty
votes, but unless contradicted by another eyewitness, a vivid
eyewitness account is difficult to erase from jurors’ minds!
� In staged theft experiments, both correct & incorrect
eyewitnesses were believed 80% of the time! (Wells et
al., 1979)
� Jurors are skeptical of eyewitnesses whose memory of
trivial details is poor, even though they are often the
most accurate witnesses!

2. 2
How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony?
� When Eyes Deceive
� Eyewitnesses are often more confident than correct!
� Multiple studies have demonstrated an approximately 20
point spread between percent confidence and percent correct,
leading to a 20% incidence of mistaken identification!
� Strong emotions and traumas may corrupt eyewitness
memories
� Ex. In high stress, interrogation situation where the
interrogators were clearly visible, only 30% could accurately
identify the interrogator, versus 62% in a low-stress
interrogation scenario (Morgan et al., 2004)
How Reliable Is Eyewitness Testimony?
� The Misinformation Effect (Elizabeth Loftus)
� Incorporating “misinformation” into one’s memory of
the event after witnessing an event and receiving
misleading information about it
� How introduced?
� Children are especially susceptible
� “Imagination inf lation”
� Retelling � Commits people to their recollections,
whether they are accurate or not

3. � Adjusting our retelling to please our audience may result
in us altering our own memory of the event
3
How to Increase the Reliability of
Eyewitnesses & Jurors?
� Train police interviewers to use cognitive interviews
� Allow uninterrupted retelling by witness having them start
with
visualizing the scene & explaining the setting
� The follow up with questions on whether there was anything
unusual about . . .
� Minimize false lineup identifications
� 10-12 second rule
� Remind witnesses that the culprit may not be in the lineup
� Use blind testing, control grps or blank lineups & Sequential
lineups
� Use Scripted and neutral questions – no feedback
� Educate jurors about pitfalls of eyewitness testimony
What Other Factors Influence Juror

4. Judgments?
� The Defendant’s Characteristics
� Physical attractiveness
� Similarity to the jurors (including race)
� Social or Socio-economic status
� The Judge’s Instructions
� Ignoring inadmissible evidence that has already been heard
by jurors is very difficult (including pretrial publicity)
� Sometimes being asked to ignore evidence can give that
evidence even more impact - ? Why ?
� Severity of the potential sentence
4
What Influences the Individual Juror?
� How are jurors affected by individual information
processing & disposition?
� Juror Comprehension
� Developing an explanation or story of what took place to
make
sense of the evidence (can differ by individual)
� Understanding instructions – ex. Legalese

5. � Increase comprehension/understanding by providing access
to transcripts
� Understanding statistical information (ex. Blood type & DNA
evidence) � #s must be supported by a convincing story
What Influences the Individual Juror?
� Jury Selection
� Scientific jury selection (Using general surveys to
determine biases & select for/against those biases)
� Overall, attitudes/personal characteristics are weak
predictors of verdicts
� “Death-Qualified” Jurors
� Argued that it produces a biased jury
� More prone to favor the prosecution & vote guilty
� More concerned with crime control
5
How Do Group Influences Affect Juries?
� Minority Influence
� Jurors in the minority will be most persuasive when
consistent, persistent, and self-confident & especially if they
can trigger some defections from the majority

6. � Group Polarization
� Deliberation may make initial leanings stronger
� Leniency
� When less than 2/3rds call for conviction at the outset of jury
deliberations (lacking majority agreement), acquittal is likely
� A minority favoring acquittal is more likely to prevail than
one favoring conviction
How Do Group Influences Affect Juries?
� Are Twelve Heads Better Than One?
� Groups recall information from a trial better than do their
individual members (informational inf luence)
� Deliberation tends to cancel out certain biases &
prejudgments
� Greater chance of diversity
� Are Six Heads as Good as Twelve?
� Lesser chance of diversity
� Minority inf luence of one could be especially challenging
� There are recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions permitting
smaller juries and nonunanimous juries
Write about some of the key findings regarding characteristics

7. of events, witnesses, and testimony based on your reading of the
Wells & Olson (2003) review and Chapter 15 in your textbook.
Think about a memorable event or a high profile court case that
you are familiar with that involved eye-witness accounts or
testimony.
Write about how what you learned in Chapter 15 and Reading
#8 relates to your real-life example.
This 1-2 page journal response is due by midnight on Monday,
May 4 (UALR's last day of classes).
Note: This is an extension from what is posted on the Syllabus,
but will allow a little extra time for those who need to focus
their priorities on the completion of HW #5 next week.