The End Of The Eyewitness?

Eyewitness accounts have long been considered definitive evidence in criminal trials. “But memory —to the judicial system’s growing disconcert—can be flawed,” Erika Hayasaki writes for Newsweek, reporting on growing evidence that the memory of crime witnesses may not be trustworthy. Last month, the National Academy of Sciences released a report urging an overhaul of how courts and law enforcement handle eyewitness identification, after studies found that witnesses were susceptible to false or “planted” memories. The Supreme Courts of both New Jersey and Oregon have mandated new considerations or procedures for juries considering eyewitness evidence, and Massachusetts appears ready to follow suit. “Unsettling as it might be to admit it, the mind is really a muddle of distorted memory associations, further complicated by the distracting details of the moment,” Hayasaki writes.