KEY QUESTION - CRIMINOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

IS EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY TOO UNRELIABLE TO TRUST?

> Devlin Report (1976) > Courts should be very cautious in the sole reliance on eyewitness testismony in the absence of other supporting evidence > INACCURATE

> Bartlett (1932) > theory of reconstructive memory > we try to merge what we know with what we remember. Therefore, eyewitnesses may reconstruct their memory of an event to fit in with existing schemata (their understanding already and expectations) within a situation.

> Loftus > post-event information may also alter the memories of eyewitnesses. It can be difficult to isolate the true memory of the event.

> Yuille and Cutshall (1986) > using a naturalistic case study as opposed to an artificial lab experiment > real-life eyewitnesses demonstrated accuracy in their recall.  They were not infuenced by leading questions, even following a prolongued period of time between the event and recall.

> Thompson (1997) > statements given by survivors of the…