On May 12, 2015, a suspect who attacked an NYPD officer with a hammer was shot by police in the middle of the day, on a crowded Midtown Manhattan street.1 There were eyewitnesses to the incident. Almost all of the witness reports were incorrect. Several people inaccurately reported that the police officers shot an unarmed man while he was on the ground and handcuffed. The incident was recorded on surveillance video, documenting the suspect attacking one of the officers with a hammer and that officer’s partner then shooting the man while he was in the midst of the attack.
Why is eyewitness memory flawed? How can attorneys use psychology to explore and explain issues common to eyewitness testimony throughout trial? The focus of this article is to explore the psychology of memory and techniques specific to addressing these issues starting with jury selection, and continuing with jury instructions. There is a need to incorporate into jury instructions issues such as flawed memory, bias and suggestiveness as potential contributing factors to witness misinformation.
Research and Memory
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