Imagine your life was held in some else's hands. Them having the ability to throw it away in a cell, or let it be free and grow. You sitting across the room, knowing you did nothing wrong. How confident would you be they would make the right choice. Seventy percent of them would make the wrong choice. Seventy percent of all witness have been proven wrong by DNA evidence (Bonaguidi). Witness are a major flaw in our social justice system, they are unreliable because to many variables that can change the witnesses choice, but there is solutions.
The main problem in Andre Hatchett's case was the faulty witness Jerry Williams. " A faulty witnesses and misidentification is the greatest contributing factor to wrongful convictions proven by DNA testing, playing a role in more than 70% of convictions overturned through DNA testing nationwide." Eye witness misidentification can happen to any witness and sway any case (Sainvil) One of the causes of eyewitness misidentification is the way the brain changes memories over time. …show more content…
A good example of this is the case of Robert Cotton. Cotton was convicted on the charges of rape. He was identified by Jennifer Thompson. She testified in court that she was 100% sure that Cotton was her attacker. Cotton spent 54 years in jail. It was later found through DNA evidence that the attacker was Bobby Poole. The human brain has a way of changing memories. Even if the person is 100% sure, the brain can change its memories. " The human memory tends to reconstruct incidents because humans do not have the capability to record memories like a video recorder." (Bonaguidi). Another cause of eyewitness identification is the conditions of which the witness saw the convicted. The many variables of that go could have changed the way convict are almost uncountable. The lighting of the situation, the race of the convict, the expression they had on their face, the stress the witness was under are just a couple of the examples. The human memory can be affected by many things, the lighting in the situation could have highlighted different features in the face. The stress of the witness could have changed the way their mind recorded the situation. If the convict had a weapon, the witness tends to be more fixed on the weapon rather than the convict's face. The last thing that affects how a witness chooses the convict is the way they see the convict to identify them. the different sets of lineups each change the way the witness chooses the suspect. The way the police act around the suspects can sway the witnesses choice in identifying the suspect (Young, Andrew W.). One solution to these problems is to not rely a case on the word of the witness. the witness can be wrong and not always trustworthy, there are too many factors that can change their choosing of a suspect. it would take police to search every part of the evidence, even after they have witnessed. This would help innocent people be free from jail. It would give facts and evidence over the say of a witness (Young, Andrew W.). Another solution to this problem is to change the way the police introduce the suspects. with all of the variables that
The main problem in Andre Hatchett's case was the faulty witness Jerry Williams. " A faulty witnesses and misidentification is the greatest contributing factor to wrongful convictions proven by DNA testing, playing a role in more than 70% of convictions overturned through DNA testing nationwide." Eye witness misidentification can happen to any witness and sway any case (Sainvil) One of the causes of eyewitness misidentification is the way the brain changes memories over time. …show more content…
A good example of this is the case of Robert Cotton. Cotton was convicted on the charges of rape. He was identified by Jennifer Thompson. She testified in court that she was 100% sure that Cotton was her attacker. Cotton spent 54 years in jail. It was later found through DNA evidence that the attacker was Bobby Poole. The human brain has a way of changing memories. Even if the person is 100% sure, the brain can change its memories. " The human memory tends to reconstruct incidents because humans do not have the capability to record memories like a video recorder." (Bonaguidi). Another cause of eyewitness identification is the conditions of which the witness saw the convicted. The many variables of that go could have changed the way convict are almost uncountable. The lighting of the situation, the race of the convict, the expression they had on their face, the stress the witness was under are just a couple of the examples. The human memory can be affected by many things, the lighting in the situation could have highlighted different features in the face. The stress of the witness could have changed the way their mind recorded the situation. If the convict had a weapon, the witness tends to be more fixed on the weapon rather than the convict's face. The last thing that affects how a witness chooses the convict is the way they see the convict to identify them. the different sets of lineups each change the way the witness chooses the suspect. The way the police act around the suspects can sway the witnesses choice in identifying the suspect (Young, Andrew W.). One solution to these problems is to not rely a case on the word of the witness. the witness can be wrong and not always trustworthy, there are too many factors that can change their choosing of a suspect. it would take police to search every part of the evidence, even after they have witnessed. This would help innocent people be free from jail. It would give facts and evidence over the say of a witness (Young, Andrew W.). Another solution to this problem is to change the way the police introduce the suspects. with all of the variables that