While this scenario is not based on a real case, it is illustrative of the significant problem that eyewitness identification plays in the conviction of criminal defendants. Every year, more than 75,000 eyewitnesses identify suspects in criminal investigations. Of those identifications, a voluminous amount of studies suggest that about a third are mistaken. These flawed identifications lead to wrongful convictions. Of the first 250 convictions that were overturned because after-acquired DNA evidence exonerated the convict, 190 involved eyewitness identifications that were incorrect. A recent book, “Convicting the Innocent” written by Brandon L. Garrett, a law professor at the University of Virginia, documents these first 190 wrongful convictions and outlines the major problems with eyewitness identifications.
As far back as the late 1800s, experts have known that eyewitness identification is susceptible to error, and that scientific study should guide reforms for identification procedures. In 1907, Hugo Munsterberg published “On the Witness Stand,” in which he questioned the reliability of eyewitness identification. When Yale law professor Edwin Borchard studied 65 wrongful convictions for his pioneering 1932 book, “Convicting the Innocent,” he found that eyewitness misidentification was the leading cause of wrongful convictions. Since then, hundreds of scientific studies (particularly in the last three decades) have affirmed that eyewitness identification is often inaccurate; and that it can be made more accurate by implementing specific identification reforms.
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