Week 5 forum 1 Jada

Discuss the various identification methods used in the criminal justice system. Discuss some of the flaws with eye witness identifications?

Being able to identify a suspect a very important part of an investigation. As stated in te Youtube video, people have been found guilty of crimes but later found to be innocent and it was sometimes due to the inaccuracy of the eye witness account. Being able to accurately identify a suspect is important and depends on the length of time of observance of the suspect, distractions during the time the suspect was observed, focus on the suspect and events occurring, stress during the events and race also affects the accuracy of suspect identification.  These elements as well as memory retention. Supposedly an individual’s memory fades the most during the first few hours after a crime and as a result it raises the risk of mistakes.  The different types of identification discussed in the lesson are Lineups, Show-ups and Photo identification such as mug shots.

A line up is described as not very reliable form of identification. A line up can be in person or live or in photo or video. Live Line up are the preferred method of identification due to a live superiority hypothesis which states “live presentation of lineup members yields the best eyewitness identification outcomes. There are theoretical grounds to predict that an eyewitness would fare best at a live lineup, where the lineup members are observed in their entirety and can even be seen walking or talking. Compare this to a photo lineup, normally composed of static mugshots, and the notion of live superiority seems all the more plausible. Even video lineups, as conventionally practiced, only show the lineup members from the shoulders up, neutrally posed, turning from side to side

respond to this discussion question in 100 words