Appraisal of Eyewitness Testimony (From Adult Eyewitness Testimony: Current Trends and Developments, P 385-418, 1994, David Frank Ross, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-159543)

• NCJ Number: 159561
• Author(s): M R Leippe
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 34 pages
• Grant Number(s): SES-8711659
• Sponsoring Agency: National Science Foundation
• Sale Source: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The typical eyewitness memory report is a persuasive communication; conceptual analysis of its content reveals many factors that contribute to its believability in the eyes of fact finders.

Abstract

The communication-persuasion framework represents an attempt to organize these factors in a conceptually coherent fashion that informs criminal justice practitioners who solicit and evaluate eyewitness memory reports and also guides new research. A thorough understanding of eyewitness persuasion is an important theoretical and practical goal in order to learn how and how well fact finders discern eyewitness accuracy. The validity-intuition model of discernibility, high on conjecture and low on empirical backing as it is, offers a point of departure for this critical research challenge. Determinants of memory believability are discussed in the context of jury decisionmaking, and ways of judging eyewitness accuracy are examined. 91 references, 2 notes, 2 tables, and 1 figure