Challenging traditional eyewitness identification

The traditional police line-up for identifying suspected criminals may lead to false identification, according to a new study by the American Judicature Society. Instead of showing suspects to witnesses all at once, police should show photographs in sequence, the researchers found. In field experiments conducted between 2008 and 2011, when witnesses were asked to look at suspects simultaneously, they tended to compare people side by side to determine who looked most like the perpetrator rather than independently comparing the individuals to their own memories. The study by Gary Wells, a social psychologist at Iowa State University, and colleagues, comes during a time of intense scrutiny of eyewitness identification. Last month, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued new rules that make it tougher to present evidence about eyewitness identification. The issue will come before the U.S. Supreme Court this November.