I caught up with a series of 3 TV programmes called "Eyewitness" last night that have been broadcast on BBC 2 and BBC 4. If you can access the programmes watch them!
The programmes followed 10 people as they were exposed to different crimes (the first was an apparent murder in a pub, the 10 folk did not at the time know the fight was staged) and then followed them as if they had witnessed an actual crime, so the police turn up and they are treated as if a real crime had been committed.
It was utterly fascinating to see how unreliable eye-witness testimony can be and how bad we are at identifying people. It was equally fascinating to see how the police have learnt about how human memory works and how to deal with the many limitations of eyewitness accounts yet still extract useful and accurate information. (Apparently the UK police lead the world in the use of techniques such as "cognitive interviewing" see: http://www.open2.net/eyewitness/becky_milne.html for more detail.)
The 2 follow-on programmes look at another staged crime and also examines some key cases in which police interviews and techniques either were successful or failed and what has been learnt from those cases.
It really helps to understand how people can be sincerely utterly convinced that their testimony is accurate yet them be utterly wrong, and how their recall can be so easily contaminated.
The programmes followed 10 people as they were exposed to different crimes (the first was an apparent murder in a pub, the 10 folk did not at the time know the fight was staged) and then followed them as if they had witnessed an actual crime, so the police turn up and they are treated as if a real crime had been committed.
It was utterly fascinating to see how unreliable eye-witness testimony can be and how bad we are at identifying people. It was equally fascinating to see how the police have learnt about how human memory works and how to deal with the many limitations of eyewitness accounts yet still extract useful and accurate information. (Apparently the UK police lead the world in the use of techniques such as "cognitive interviewing" see: http://www.open2.net/eyewitness/becky_milne.html for more detail.)
The 2 follow-on programmes look at another staged crime and also examines some key cases in which police interviews and techniques either were successful or failed and what has been learnt from those cases.
It really helps to understand how people can be sincerely utterly convinced that their testimony is accurate yet them be utterly wrong, and how their recall can be so easily contaminated.
Last edited:
