Case for Innocence

CASE FOR INNOCENCE:

Eye Witness Accuracy

When you think of living in America and our Justice System the first thing that comes to mind is the right to a "fair trial." The laws in America are pretty cut and dry, innocent until proven guilty, but what happens when you are accused, solely on eye witness testimony and sent to prison for a crime that you didn't commit? This essay will discuss a case where a man was wrongfully convicted based on eye witness testimony, then later exonerated through the help of the Innocent Project. I will attempt to show my readers that eye witness testimony isn't really as reliable as some perceive it to be.

The Innocent Project is a non-profit, national litigation and public policy organization that was created by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld in 1992 dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice (1). Typically when a crime is committed the first question asked is "was there an eye witness"? Eye witnesses are vital to any investigation, although some don't find this type of evidence to be accurate enough for arrest, the Justice System still rely on it. Eyewitness testimony is an integral part of the decision making process, consequently, eyewitness memory can be compromised due to misleading post event suggestion (Zaragoza & Lane, 1994).

The perfect example is the case of Calvin Willis, who was convicted in 1982 by eyewitness testimony for aggravated rape of a 10-year old girl, proclaiming his innocence but was unheard; Willis was convicted and sentenced to life without parole. Because of Willis's life style he attracted lots of enemies which in his case, was his eye witness. Although, DNA was recovered in this case it was never tested. Through the help of the Innocent Project and the testing of DNA contraire to what the legal system/eye witness opinions, Willis was released and till this day not even an apology was rendered from the Texas Criminal Justice system. Willis had spent more than 21 years in prison for a brutal rape that he did not commit. It was later verified that the eye witness in this case lied due to the fact that Willis embarrassed her previously on the day of the crime.

According to The Innocence Project (2008) "Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in more than 75% of convictions overturned through DNA testing." Still, the criminal justice system profoundly relies on eyewitness identification and testimony for investigating and prosecuting crimes (1). Victims in these crimes that didn't witness their assailant are certain that the perpetrator committed the act because of the eye witness testimonies. Eye witness testimony can be mistaken for many reasons such