Description
Product ID: | 9781498579872 |
Product Form: | Hardback |
Country of Manufacture: | US |
Title: | How Can So Many Be Wrong? |
Subtitle: | Making the Due Process Case for an Eyewitness Expert |
Authors: | Author: Margaret A. Hagen, Sou Hee Yang |
Page Count: | 246 |
Subjects: | Central / national / federal government, Central government, Civil procedure: law of evidence, Civil procedure: law of evidence, USA |
Description: | Select Guide Rating How Can So Many Be Wrong presents the knowledge needed to analyze and judge where eyewitnesses are the linchpin of the case. It presents current findings of all state supreme courts and the Federal Circuits to slow the further perpetuation of the grave injustice of false conviction through mistaken eyewitnesses. Of the 347 U.S. false criminal convictions overturned so far through DNA testing 73% were based on erroneous eyewitness testimony. How could so many eyewitnesses be wrong? How Can So Many Be Wrong? answers that question. The analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court eyewitness cases shows that most the Court’s holdings were likely in error. The Court—like the judges and juries in the courts below—greatly overestimated the reliability of eyewitnesses against the defendants and decided their convictions based on unsound evidence. The facts of the cases and personalities of the defendants are engaging, even compelling. An expert is needed to inform the judge and the jury of the circumstances to consider when weighing the testimony of the witness against the facts of the case. It is a clear violation of Due Process to deny the defendant the provision of an expert witness in all cases where the eyewitness testimony lacks corroboration Research assessing both cross-examination and jury instructions makes it abundantly clear that neither can effectively provide courts with the counterintuitive information necessary to evaluate eyewitness reliability. Denial of an expert is denial of Due Process. |
Imprint Name: | Lexington Books |
Publisher Name: | Lexington Books |
Country of Publication: | GB |
Publishing Date: | 2019-04-04 |