I expect most TIPSters have seen Alfred Hitchcock's classic "The Wrong Man" (1956), with Henry Fonda in the role of the man who was a victim of mistaken eye-witness testimony: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051207/
According to Hitchcock, it was based on a true story: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1732379161/ Wikipedia: "The story was based on the book *The True Story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero* by Maxwell Anderson and the article "A Case of Identity" (Life magazine, June 29, 1953) by Herbert Brean." Did *anything* change as a result of this case and the resultant publicity? Presumably not, which is why the careful experimental work of academic psychologists, notably Elizabeth Loftus (*Eyewitness Testimony*, 1979), has been needed to get things moving, Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London [email protected] http://www.esterson.org -------------------------------------------- From: Beth Benoit <[email protected]> Subject: For Social Psychology: Police Lineups Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2011 09:28:35 -0400 An interesting article appeared in The New York Times on Monday, which is encouraging. "New Jersey's Supreme Court has decided to overhaul the state's rules for how judges and jurors treat evidence from police lineups." It's heartening to see that legal systems are starting to recognize that eyewitness identification can be problematic. Gary Wells, of Iowa State, is interviewed (I have a couple of videos where he talks about this problem.), as is Stanley Z. Fisher, of Boston University. The new guidelines mandate two things: • lineups must be administered by someone is not a primary investigator on the case and isn't familiar with the suspect • photos should be shown in sequence, rather than as a group Here's the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/us/29witness.html Beth Benoit Granite State College Plymouth State University New Hampshire ------------------------------------------ From: Jim Matiya <[email protected]> Subject: RE: For Social Psychology: Police Lineups Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2011 10:21:13 -0500 Hi Beth, What I found interesting is that despite the evidence of Wells et. al, they mention how many police departments just go on with lineups and eye witnesses as they had in the past. "In many communities, lineups are conducted in the same way they have been for decades, although typically these days they involve photos, not actual people. According to some estimates, only about 25 percent to 30 percent of jurisdictions have police departments that have revised their policies to protect the integrity of lineup procedures." Jim Matiya Adjunct Instructor in Psychology Florida Gulf Coast University [email protected] -------------------------------------------- From: Joan Warmbold <[email protected]> Subject: Re: For Social Psychology: Police Lineups Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:30:37 -0500 However, as the article proceeds to discuss, many of the smaller police departments choose not to follow these guidelines, as is the case for some prosecutors and judges, as they think this is either undermining their authority and/or these "scientific" studies are not to be trusted. What this means is not only are innocent people still going to given the finger by eyewitnesses but trials will be now be declared as mistrials at taxpayers expense. There are times I feel that those of us who understand the validity of scientific research, as per Gary Wells, need to come forward. I applaud Gary but such does not mean that each and every one of us doesn't have an obligation to write a letter to newspapers, editorials, etc. to clarify the importance and validity of the determination of the judges on the New Jersey Supreme Court. In fact, they need and have every right to expect our support as they took a brave and rather unorthodox stance. Joan Joan Warmbold Boggs [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=12388 or send a blank email to leave-12388-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
