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Eyewitness Misidentification Essay Examples

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Eyewitness misidentification is a major problem that has an effect on adequate policing. One major goal and priority of law enforcement is justice. They should focus on prosecuting the correct person because if they are prosecuting the wrong person they are ruining an innocent persons life and justice is not being served. Many problems can arise from misidentification. It often leads to an innocent persons rights being infringed on. There are many dangers to misidentification and many causes for misidentification occurring. It is evident that eyewitness identification cannot always be trusted. Under times of distress, you may not have a clear observation of the suspect. DNA evidence has now been another factor in finding evidence in …show more content…

In a situation where there are weapons, often times the victim may be focused on the weapon and not the physical features of the suspect. This is another factor in eyewitness misidentification. Another reason there may be eyewitness misidentification as mentioned by Thompson (2009), “…when witnesses are either very young or very old or have used alcohol or controlled substances, studies have shown an increased risk of erroneous identification” (p. 644). These factors cause stress to the victim and can lead to the psychological causes of misidentification that was mentioned …show more content…

For instance, if an eyewitness misidentifies a person whom they believe to be the suspect and report that person to the police and the “suspect” reacts out of anger when stopped by police causing an altercation to take place, which often times may be physical. Now that person may be facing charges for a crime they didn’t commit and also may be facing charges for the altercation that occurred during the arrest for the crime they didn’t commit. It is extremely important for eyewitnesses to have a clear and convincing description of the suspect because it can easily cause further complications. It can also ruin an innocent persons life if they are wrongfully convicted of the crime because of the

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