Eyewitness Testimony Greatest Factor in Wrongful Convictions

Apparently eye­wit­ness tes­ti­mony has been a fac­tor in over 80% of the wrong­ful con­vic­tions later over­turned by DNA evi­dence. Other foren­sic “errors” (unval­i­dated tech­niques, improper test­ing, or ana­lyst misconduct/testimony) has been a fac­tor in roughly 50%.

Hopefully juries will even­tu­ally learn that foren­sic sci­ence, like any other sci­ence and human activ­ity, is con­ducted by humans, and not infallible.

Eyewitness misiden­ti­fi­ca­tion has played a role in more than 84 per­cent of all wrong­ful con­vic­tions exposed by DNA in Texas (and at least 40 per­cent of these eye­wit­ness iden­ti­fi­ca­tions involved a cross racial iden­ti­fi­ca­tion), accord­ing to the Innocence Project. In Texas, wit­ness misiden­ti­fi­ca­tion has been a large issue for Dallas County, play­ing a role in the major­ity of the county’s slew of exon­er­a­tions. Since 2001, 21 peo­ple in Dallas County have had con­vic­tions over­turned after DNA proved their inno­cence, reported the Associated Press. That’s a rate larger than any other county in Texas, and larger in fact than many other states in the U.S.

Please read the whole arti­cle here: