Why are eyewitnesses unreliable?
In the movies, the eyewitness scene usually plays out one of two ways: The victim of a crime is brought into a police station to sit behind a one-way mirror and identify his or her assailant in a line-up. Or, the eyewitness dramatically points to the alleged criminal sitting smugly beside his court-appointed defense attorney during the trial. There may be some cross examination about how dark it was and how good the witness’s vision is, but in the movies the eyewitness always picks out the right person. Eyewitness testimony can play a big part in criminal court cases. Whether or not a person is convicted of a crime can come down to the reliability of an eyewitness and how confidently he or she conveys testimony to a jury. The problem is these eyewitness accounts aren’t always accurate. The Innocence Project is a nonprofit team of attorneys and law students that re-examines questionable murder convictions with the hope of using DNA evidence to overturn the sentences of defendents who’ve
