Lying' Eyes -- N.Y. Times Upfront
NAME: ___________________________________
DIRECTIONS read pages 6-7 and answer the questions below:
1. What new technology has helped determine how inaccurate (about 1/3 of the time, or 25,000 suspects a year) eyewitness testimony can be?
2. What exactly is the legal issue (question of law) in the pending U.S. Supreme Court case of Perry v. New Hampshire)?
3. What are are a couple of factors that can influence memory (both factors were present in Murder or Memory?)?
4. The critical problem with false witness identifications is the same problem encountered in Murder or Memory? with confessions -- what is that problem?
5. In Perry v. New Hampshire, the defendant's attorney is asking the Supreme Court to consider what question under the due process clause of the 5th Amendment?
6. Two recommendations have been made to reduce witness identification errors:
(a) having the line-up administered by someone who doesn't know who the suspect is -- why?
(b) presenting mugshots one at a time, rather than as a group to pick from (as we saw happened in the NBC news special) -- why?
7. Murder of Memory? raises a fundamental problem for our justice system that goes beyond convicting an innocent person. The article identifies the same problem with witness IDs that the movie demonstrated with confessions. What is that problem?
8. What do YOU think -- who should make the call on confessions' reliability and the reliability of witness IDs: a judge (as happened in Murder or Memory?) or a jury (as currently juries do)? Explain your conclusion.
PLEASE RETURN THE MAGAZINE WHEN FINISHED.
DIRECTIONS read pages 6-7 and answer the questions below:
1. What new technology has helped determine how inaccurate (about 1/3 of the time, or 25,000 suspects a year) eyewitness testimony can be?
2. What exactly is the legal issue (question of law) in the pending U.S. Supreme Court case of Perry v. New Hampshire)?
3. What are are a couple of factors that can influence memory (both factors were present in Murder or Memory?)?
4. The critical problem with false witness identifications is the same problem encountered in Murder or Memory? with confessions -- what is that problem?
5. In Perry v. New Hampshire, the defendant's attorney is asking the Supreme Court to consider what question under the due process clause of the 5th Amendment?
6. Two recommendations have been made to reduce witness identification errors:
(a) having the line-up administered by someone who doesn't know who the suspect is -- why?
(b) presenting mugshots one at a time, rather than as a group to pick from (as we saw happened in the NBC news special) -- why?
7. Murder of Memory? raises a fundamental problem for our justice system that goes beyond convicting an innocent person. The article identifies the same problem with witness IDs that the movie demonstrated with confessions. What is that problem?
8. What do YOU think -- who should make the call on confessions' reliability and the reliability of witness IDs: a judge (as happened in Murder or Memory?) or a jury (as currently juries do)? Explain your conclusion.
PLEASE RETURN THE MAGAZINE WHEN FINISHED.