A Legal Psychological Study of Eyewitness Error during Criminal Trials
Eyewitness testimony plays a powerful role in criminal trials, but psychological research has shown that human memory is often unreliable and prone to distortion. This article explores that how cognitive biases, such as memory misattribution and the influence of post-information, can affect the accuracy of eyewitness accounts. It discusses key psychological theories like Bartlett’s reconstructive memory and Schacter’s memory errors, and compares legal practice in India with those of countries like the US and UK. This article also highlights real-life cases, such as wrongful conviction of Ronald Cotton, to show how eyewitness errors can lead to injustice. The aim is to show the urgent need to reform India’s legal approach by integrating psychological insights and adopting better procedural safeguards to make eyewitness testimony more reliable.
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