A Roomful Of People Condemn 5 Innocent Men

Uploaded on Sep 15, 2014At the World Science Festival event "The Science of Justice: A Matter of Opinion," panelist and John Jay College of Criminal Justice psychologist Saul Kassin was accosted by a mysterious assailant. We asked our audience of eyewitnesses to see if they could pick out the true perpetrator from a photo lineup... the results may make you think twice about how much to trust the criminal justice system.

This is a quick demonstration on why witness testimony is unreliable...
Just imagine the innocents that are behind bars, because of "eye witness" testimony...I can't imagine being sent to prison for something I didnt do...all because someone was pretty sure and convinced themselves that they seen me do it...

This is a scary world..

Our prison system is clogged with plenty of innocent, harmless people, guilty or not. Many laws are ludicrous and put harmless parents in jail leaving helpless children in shady adoption programs.

However, this test could have had a lot more thought put into it. The man was barely in view of the crowd for a moment, hardly enough time at all for most people to take a reliable mental picture. Had this gone to a real court, with real witnesses, I hope to god said witnesses would have the common sense to not simply "pick someone" to be guilty as to avoid looking stupid or different from the crowd.

With a part of someone's life potentially in your hands, you better be damn sure, or just keep your mouth shut.
a reply to: beatbox

a reply to: Ziath
Barely in view for a moment is how it goes down in real life a lot of the time though.

Very true.

It comes down to this: Risk an innocent in jail? Or risk letting a potential criminal escape guiltlessly?

If the criminal continued his trends after escaping, he would inevitably be caught, true?

However, putting an innocent person in jail can easily turn them into a criminal after only a few months in the joint. Meaning a few years after the fact, another criminal who didn't exist before is out on the streets.

Without everything being constantly monitored, it's impossible to prove what happened most of the time with humanity's disreputable nature. However, with our disreputable nature, which of us could we truly trust to do the monitoring/judging?

a reply to: TKDRL

How about ear-witness testimony?

This has been done before, it's the first time I've seen it done with pictures rather than a physical line-up in the aftermath but just as valid, perhaps more so in the main since witnesses might have the need to look at pictures of suspects, much later.

originally posted by: Ziath
Very true.

It comes down to this: Risk an innocent in jail? Or risk letting a potential criminal escape guiltlessly?

If the criminal continued his trends after escaping, he would inevitably be caught, true?

However, putting an innocent person in jail can easily turn them into a criminal after only a few months in the joint. Meaning a few years after the fact, another criminal who didn't exist before is out on the streets.

Without everything being constantly monitored, it's impossible to prove what happened most of the time with humanity's disreputable nature. However, with our disreputable nature, which of us could we truly trust to do the monitoring/judging?

a reply to: TKDRL

"Most of the time" is the keyword. Quite often anecdotal evidence is literally all there is in a trial. Even worse, is the decisions made by say Crown prosecution service in UK, or District Attorney in the US to bring something court in the first place, they can do 'smoke means fire' same as everybody else does.

originally posted by: TKDRL
a reply to: Ziath
Barely in view for a moment is how it goes down in real life a lot of the time though.

Correct, if anything in the case of the video, the audience had a great few of the crime. In real life it usually doesn't go down where everyone just happens to be seated, staring right in the direction of the crime happening. More likely to grab a glance over your shoulder as the person makes their escape.

And it's not as if the suspect sits down and has tea with them after is it?

If anything, eyewitness testimony is valid only if someone has a previous relationship with the person, to say, "Yes, I saw my wife leaving the bank, as I recognized her within a few seconds..." is much more believable than a person recognizing a perfect stranger.

I am guilty of falsely accusing someone as an "eyewitness". I was horrified weeks later when the real memory surfaced.

I no longer trust my memory and will not bear witness to anything because of this.

Fortunately, nothing came of the incident.

a reply to: Ziath
I would rather 100 guilty go free, than one innocent be jailed. I probably butchered the saying, but the gist is there. I lost faith in the justice system long ago when it tried to hang me by the balls lol. I guess you have to have been there, or know someone that has been there, to know how truelly messed up the system is.

a reply to: Spruce
Can you please elaborate? I am fascinated. Are you sure it was the real memory that surfaced later for example?

I was certain a person I worked with made a specific statement. Weeks later the real conversation popped into my mind clear as day.

It was a terrible feeling to have been so sure of myself only to realize I was dead wrong.

This rocked me to the core. Never again.

a reply to: Spruce
Thanks. It is a scary thought. I don't trust my memory at all, as I have had my memories proven wrong with video before. Now I have video cameras all over the place, hopefully it will never happen again lol. Don't help anywhere but home, better than nothing though.

I wonder how many innocent prisoners are still awaiting genetic testing for their cases 10 years after the gene code was fully cracked? Something tells me there would be alot.

originally posted by: boncho
Correct, if anything in the case of the video, the audience had a great few of the crime.

Of course they did, but how do you rationalize and observe in a moment? like no gun for instance in a fairly artificial environment, just a singular attack for no good reason in the circumstances? In the street it could be different though.

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