This link will take you to a story featured in FRONTLINE, as a result of a mistaken identification from an eyewitness. In the story, Jennifer Thompson was trying to identify her rapist, but because of faulty lineups, she chose an innocent man instead of her actual rapist. It really is an interesting story because they give you the lineup with the mistaken rapist and they also show you the real rapist. It also gives the composite, and how the two relate to it.
You should check out the website and click around on some of the links about the case and what Thompson saw in the lineup.
This link will take you to an article that went along with this story and goes along with what we've been covering in class about constructing lineups.
The article is written by Gary Wells, a psychology professor at Iowa State University. He, like Dr. Maclin, believes that there are faults in our legal system because of the methods of eyewitness identification.
As this case and prior data and findings suggest, several people are wrongfully convicted based on wrong eyewitness identification and faulty lineups. The two play off each other as well. For example, say a witness believes they can identify their attacker, however the police constructed a lineup where one suspect completely stands out from the rest, therefore the witness is more compelled to pick the person who stands out more, not realizing that this is actually not the man who attacked her.
The witness's perception could also bias their pick out of a lineup. If a guy looks meaner than the rest, or has more tatoos, the witness may associate this person with being more aggressive and therefore, more likely to be the offender. As this area of research continues to grow and collect more results, better methods of obtaining eyewitness information and constucting lineups are being developed in hopes of improving of our justice system. The growth of DNA testing and its use as evidence is also becoming more widespread and accurate to put the right people behind bars.
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