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OPINION:
Editorial |
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A way to end 'tells' for witness lineups
"I know what I saw." These five words echo through eyewitness testimony in courtrooms across the United States, and juries believe them. Eyewitness identification can be one of the most powerful pieces of evidence in a criminal trial, particularly when it comes from a victim of crime. But eyewitness testimony can also be deeply flawed. Just ask Wilton Dedge, the Port St. John man convicted in 1982 at the age of 20 after a 17-year-old rape victim identified him to police as her assailant. After the attack, the victim told police she was attacked by a muscular, balding 6-foot man. Never mind the fact that Dedge was 7 inches shorter and slim, with a full head of blond hair -- the traumatized girl's insistence that Dedge raped her sent him to prison, where he stayed for 22 years until DNA evidence proved he could not have committed the rape. Dedge's experience is backed by masses of data showing how flawed eyewitness testimony can be. Bad eyewitness identification factored in 75 percent of the cases that have been overturned by DNA. Since DNA evidence isn't present in most criminal cases, there could be many more innocent people in prison due to mistaken identity. That merits attention -- and action -- by the Florida Legislature. One of the easiest, and potentially most effective, fixes involves a simple tweak to a basic police tool: the lineup. This practice -- in which police actually line up a row of people, or display a set of photographs and ask a witness to identify one as the criminal -- is subject to flaws, particularly when the officer administering the lineup knows who the suspect is. Even though the officer might not intend to taint witness identification, it happens, through subtle "tells" such as fleeting changes of facial expression. The solution is to remove that officer from the lineup process, substituting another officer -- one who has never seen the suspect and doesn't know who the ringers are. This procedure, called a "double-blind" lineup, is the best way to ensure that eyewitness IDs are as accurate as possible. In addition, police should take care to ensure that all subjects in a lineup are as physically similar as possible. These two fixes are simple. They require no new technology and, because they simply substitute one officer for another, little extra police time. Moreover, they're fully supported by irrefutable research. (Research behind a third reform, which would change the way lineups are administered so that a witness considers only one suspect or photograph at a time, shows conflicts and needs further work.) Witnesses tend to trust their eyes, but by now police and lawmakers should know better. Three states have adopted procedures that make lineups more reliable and false convictions less likely. Florida should be the fourth. |
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