Transcript

CATRIONA HARVARD

Throughout this course we have followed and evaluated two investigations of the same crime.

Even though both investigations involved the same witnesses, one led to the wrong people being accused. We saw that using leading questions, bias lineup procedures and concentrating on finding evidence to confirm existing theories made, it is possible to gather a lot of evidence seemingly confirming that an innocent person was in fact guilty of the crime.

GRAHAM PIKE

Although our two detectives were fictional and we used a staged robbery, we saw at the start of the course that unfortunately miscarriages of justice do occur in real life, and that eyewitness evidence has played a significant role in convicting innocent people.

CATRIONA HARVARD

We might conclude that using any eyewitness evidence is just too problematic, but remember that sometimes it is the only evidence available. Psychological research has shown that it is possible to develop investigative techniques that can improve the accuracy of eyewitness evidence and that limit some of the problems that can lead to miscarriages of justice.

GRAHAM PIKE

This week we will hear from psychologists about some of the latest research being conducted on eyewitness memory, and how it might help investigations in the future.

You'll also have an opportunity to test your knowledge of the psychology of eyewitness evidence, and to discover how you can learn more about this, and other important areas of psychology.