Criminal Jury Trials

[Gregory Matthews]

I have abstracted the following, about criminal jury trials, from:

"Editor's Note," Bottom Line Personal, May 1, 2019, page 2.

*  75% of convictions overturned by DNA testing included "eyewitness" identification.  Eyewitnesses are often wrong.

*  Jurors typically are unable to distinguish between false and true witness testimony.

*  30% of convictions later overturned included a false confession.  Confessions are often false.

The above was abstracted from an interview conducted with Dr. Brian Bornstein, the author of The Jury Under Fire. . .

[B/W Photodude]

1 hour ago, Gregory Matthews said:

I have abstracted the following, about criminal jury trials, from:

"Editor's Note," Bottom Line Personal, May 1, 2019, page 2.

*  75% of convictions overturned by DNA testing included "eyewitness" identification.  Eyewitnesses are often wrong.

*  Jurors typically are unable to distinguish between false and true witness testimony.

*  30% of convictions later overturned included a false confession.  Confessions are often false.

The above was abstracted from an interview conducted with Dr. Brian Bornstein, the author of The Jury Under Fire. . .

This is quite interesting and is something I have studied for many years. To learn more about it, google "Loftus"  & "memory"   < http://lmgtfy.com/?q=loftus+memory > who is a researcher in memory. These convictions overturned often include convictions for rape and other sexual assaults. Failures in identification of the criminal are notoriously bad when you start crossing racial lines. False memories also often include crimes against children. There have been cases where people accused have been so harassed by police that they began to believe that they were guilty of a crime and developed memories of having done the crime. Often, false confessions come after extended periods of questioning and harassment that the accused confess to get the police off their back. One of the sad things about false memories is that the "victim" actually becomes a victim by "remembering" things which did not happen. Loftus was able to demonstrate that false memories were more difficult to get over than genuine memories of real occurrences.

While it doesn't always work well, this is one of the reasons in the Old Testament that two witnesses were required to convict someone.

So, moral of the story, if you believe that the police are targeting you, stop talking! "Lawyer up." Don't take a lie detector test. There is a reason that they are inadmissible in court. A certain percentage of them are false going both ways. The primary reason for them is for the police to apply more pressure on you.