(1987). Some facts about weapon focus. Loftus, E.F. (1986). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 590-598. A further problem is that of the methodology used when researching eyewitness testimony which is predominately undertaken in a laboratory and may not be generalisable to real-life situations. Individual and situational factors in eyewitness memory. (2009) concluded that if there is considerable repetition of questions with child witnesses, the accuracy of responses changes significantly and that if children cannot answer a question, they are more likely to fabricate answers with repeated questioning. He further noted that the rate is thought to be much lower in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others, especially those that have established procedures for reviewing cases involving the potential of wrongful conviction. This tendency leads to the blurriness of memory retention on everything else that happened in the crime. A number of studies have attempted to induce stress-related scenarios to study the effects on participants as witnesses, although it could be suggested that this is unethical as it may cause the participants psychological harm. Individuals use their schemas to explain what happens in certain situations for example, how a burglar behaves or what type of objects would be present in a specific context, for example, the layout inside a bank or restaurant. The reliability if an eyewitness testimony is questionable. They were then were asked questions about the accident using different verbs to describe the accident such as, ‘how fast were the cars going when they smashed/hit/bumped each other?’ (Loftus and Palmer, 1974, p.586). As the study was conducted in a laboratory, it is possible that the stress experienced by witnesses to violent events is greater in real-life crime and therefore, suggests that accurate recall may be impaired. When individuals either witness or are a victim of crime they may be required to give evidence in court. Loftus (1986) reports that in cross-racial identification by eyewitness, individuals are less accurate at identifying a member of a different ethnic group or culture than identifying features of a person’s own race. Didn't find the paper that you were looking for? Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (1986). Aidan Sammons examines the two psychological factors which may deem Eyewitness Testimony fallible: “reconstructive errors and leading questions”, and “weapon focus and violence distractions” (para. Here’s a Sample Testimony. I grew up in a Christian family, so I was surrounded by God and the church from the very beginning. In legal terms, this is called eyewitness testimony. WowEssays, 22 Mar. "Eyewitness Testimony". Although a Testimony by a bystander or a victim regarding an incident is a great tool for further investigation, testimonies are often times false and can lead to false accusations. Much research shows that memory more closely resembles a synthesis of experiences. Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 291-301. Eyewitness testimony: The influence of the wording of a question. (2007). English Grammar An Introduction to Punctuation Writing If this essay belongs to you and you no longer want us to display it, you can put a claim on it and we will remove it. This can lead to the stereotyping of certain groups such as black men being responsible for violent actions in comparison to white men as found by Duncan (1976). The study consisted of two experiments. The Telegraph Newspaper, Retrieved on 5/10/2015 from; https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7856787/Violent-inner-city-crime-the-figures-and-a-question-of-race.html. A key reason for memory distortion is that witnesses pick up information from other sources, a combination of memory from different experiences. Number: 2842657 Reconstructive errors occur because the human memory works by fitting information in schemas in order to retain them better and more conveniently. According to “The Magic of the Mind”, eyewitness testimony which relies on the accuracy of human memory, has an enormous impact on the outcome of a trial. Sample Essay On Eyewitness Testimony And Memory. Another factor that may influence the accurate memory of a crime in intergroup bias. This sort of selective thinking causes one to ignore or undervalue any alternative thought or belief irrespective of evidence otherwise. Anxiety and stress play a major role in violence distraction (McLeod, 2009). This means that eyewitness testimony should be considered a valuable and relevant part of court procedure. Weapon focus is the tendency of witnesses to focus on the weapons used in a violent crime (para. The Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony Essay example. Retrieved from: http://www.simplypsychology.org/Eyewitness%20Testimony.pdf. study were shown a series of slides of a crime in a fast-food restaurant where a customer either pointed a gun or a cheque at the cashier. He claimed that in order to make sense of an event we go through a process called “ effort after meaning.” Instead of storing an exact replica of the event, we combine it with, Emily Dickinson's Feelings About Death Revealed in Her Poem, Because I could not stop for Death, Canada and Quebec's Conflict Essay example, America Needs More Guns: Say No to Gun Control Essay, Ethics in the Automotive Repair Industry Essay. It was found that participants who watched the violent film remember fewer details than the control group. 4665 words (19 pages) Law Essay. This has been addressed by introducing a cognitive interview technique which Fisher, Geiselman and Raymond (1987) suggest avoids influencing the answers given by witnesses. The studies show the importance of the way in which language can alter perceptions or memories of an event. Krähenbühl, S., Blades, M. and Eiser, C. (2009). Individual and situational factors in eyewitness memory. The hypothesis, High, Validity of Eyewitness Testimony Eyewitness testimony has been used as an important tool in the criminal justice system. Juries generally view eyewitness testimonies as trustworthy and convincing evidences (Sammons, “Eyewitness Testimony”, para. There have been some concerns expressed regarding the relevance and reliability of children as witnesses. Another thing that is covered in this experiment is the types of memory disorders. Observing a weapon in a crime may cause a witness considerable stress and this may have an effect on their ability to accurately remember details. English. Violent inner-city crime, the figures, and a question of race. The following essay will present research that has investigated why eyewitness testimony can be inaccurate and may consequently not be relevant in a court case. Avoiding leading questions (Loftus and Palmer, 1974) and the introduction of the cognitive interview technique (Fisher et al. [Accessed October 28, 2020]. Brain, Memory, Social Issues, Psychology, Information, Crime, Violence, Criminal Justice. Clifford, B.R. Accessed 28 October 2020. The children watched a staged event and were asked eight open-ended questions, each of which was repeated 4 times. Student: Amy Mason The evidence presented indicates that there are a number of problems around the issue of eyewitness testimony although it would appear that research has attempted to address some of the problems. (1987) emphasises the focus on weapons. It was found that for over 25% of children there was a decline in accuracy which was greatest after the first repetition of questions. With DNA testing, many individuals initially identified by eyewitnesses as being the perpetrator have subsequently been found to be innocent (Wells and Olson, 2003). The witness in the gun shop event had very accurate and clear memories of the event, which endured over a period of 5 months. Bias, Cognitive Dissonance, Confirmation Bias, Epistemology, Ignorance, Neuroscience, Social Psychology, Evidence, Government, Islam, Social Institutions, Truth, Virtue, Witness, 12 Angry Men, Belief, Epistemology, Film Analysis, Film Review, Ignorance, Jury, Movie, Prejudice, Witness, Epistemology, False Memory, Justification, Metaphysics, Nelson Mandela, Neuroscience, Phenomenology, Truth, Confession, Criminal Justice, Deviance, Ethical Principles, Human Rights, Morality, Virtue, Witness, Communication, English Language, Language, Multilingualism, Question, Translation, Witness, Indigenous Interpreting Issues in Western Australian Courts. Due date: Friday 21st September 21, 2012 Handbook of Eyewitness Psychology. According to previous experiments, eyewitness testimony is unreliable. Problems in Using Eyewitness Testimony. All rights reserved. Weapon focus is a manifestation of another factor which affects the accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony: violence distraction. After we discovered this information, we became curious as to whether in a testimony, the eyewitness’ memory is more reliable after a short period of time or after a longer period of time? A meta-analytic review of the effects of high stress on eyewitness memory. Sammons, A. (2004). However, research evidence, The Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony Essay example, Eyewitness testimony is defined as, “an area of research that investigates the accuracy of memory following an accident, crime, or other significant event, and the types of errors that are commonly made in such situations.” Much emphasis is placed on the accuracy of eyewitness testimony as often-inaccurate eyewitness testimony can have serious consequences leading to wrong convictions. After filling out the order form, you will be directed to payment via Credit Card or another preferred method. Psychological research shows that eyewitness testimony is not always accurate, therefore it should not be used in the criminal justice system. 29% male victims of gun crimes, 24% of knife crimes). 1). Krähenbühl, Blades and Eiser (2009) conducted a study with 156 children aged between 4 and 9 years to investigate the effects of repeating questions several times in an interview situation as a witness. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://www.wowessays.com/free-samples/sample-essay-on-eyewitness-testimony-and-memory/. Leading questions also add to memory distortion by adding information which may not have been known by the witness and forcing them to fit it in their memory (para. One week later, the participants returned and were asked further questions including ‘did you see any broken glass’ and, depending on the verb used in the original question, the faster the car was perceived to be travelling, the more participants reported seeing broken glass, even though there was no glass in the film (Loftus and Palmer, 1974, p.587).
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