The Research Design Associates Blog

There have been 289 people proven innocent and exonerated by DNA testing in this country and that eyewitness misidentification testimony was a factor in nearly 75% of these exonerations, making it the leading cause of the wrongful convictions. The second greatest contributor to wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing is faulty forensic science. DOJ only made the findings available to prosecutors in the affected cases. And prosecutors failed to notify defendants or their attorneys even in many cases they knew had flawed evidence.

Over 260 people have been exonerated through DNA testing in the U.S. More than 75% of these innocent people had one or more eyewitnesses misidentify them. In about 40% of these misidentified cases, multiple eyewitnesses identified the same innocent person. How can so many eyewitnesses be wrong? Many of these misidentifications could have been prevented and many wrongful convictions averted if police had used more reliable lineup procedures. Detecting problems with a lineup, that is, assessing the fairness of the lineup, can easily be done by the police before a witness views the lineup. But by using the proper precautions and testing lineups for fairness, we can decrease the likelihood of misidentifications.