Eyewitness Misidentification

Jennifer Thompson & Ronald Cotton   in the Picking Cotton: 60 Minutes Special

Eyewitness   testimony is a big part of my criminal cases but it can be flawed. Procedures   dealing with eyewitness, photo lineups, and in-person lineups have changed   over the years because old procedures have been found to be flawed.

1. Should   witnesses or victims be believed without testing and without investigation in   criminal cases? Explain.

2. Do   witnesses and victims ever lie in criminal cases?

3. In   medical studies involving the testing of medicine a double-blind method of   testing medicine is used in which the participants taking the medicine are   not told if they are taking real medicine or a placebo. Doctors administering   the drugs are also not told which whether the medicine they are administering   is real or a placebo. 

o Why do you believe the double-blind method   is used in medicine?

o Do you believe this procedure should be used   with eyewitness identification in criminal cases? Why?

4. Based   on events in 2018, do you believe Americans understand the issues surrounding   due processes and criminal justice? Explain.

5. Do   social media movements help or hurt due process and accuracy in our criminal   justice system? Explain.