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The Why Factor: Eye Witness Identification

Eye Witness Identification

28/10/2016 GMT

BBC World Service - The Why Factor, Eye Witness Identification

Mike Williams asks why scientists and courts are so worried about eye-witness testimony

Mike Williams asks why scientists and courts are so worried about eye-witness testimony. He talks to social scientists about the way we remember and process memories.

Can you believe your own eyes? Can you trust your own memory? Why is it that so many social scientists and so many in the police and the judiciary are so very concerned about eye-witness testimony. Mike Williams talks to an attorney at the Innocence Project in New York, a retired judge, a professor of psychology and a memory expert in an attempt to find out why we try – and often fail – to accurately recall a face or an event.

(Photo: Black and White image of four men in a suspect line up. Credit: Shutterstock)

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