How Accurate Are Eyewitnesses

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t described by the witness. This in turn makes the identification more difficult but prevents the witness from focusing on one suspect due to a few physical factors. Along with these guidelines there are other strategies that suggest that law enforcement agents should inform the witness that there is a chance that the suspect is not included in the line up. Additionally during line-ups misidentification rates increase about 42% when the witness is not told that the suspect is not included in the line up. (Loftus and Palmer 1974) This guideline helps reduce misidentification in line-ups to prevent the witness from assuming guilt in the suspect that he/she believes closely resembles the perpetrator. Additionally, line-ups should be sequential and law enforcement agents should avoid increasing the confidence of eyewitnesses because as proven in other studies eyewitness confidence can dramatically affect the outcome of a trial. The guidelines suggested in this study help to eliminate faulty eyewitness testimonies, which in turn makes eyewitnesses ...