Can 'Robocop' improve Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony?

Erroneous eyewitness testimony accounts for more wrongful convictions than any other cause.  Juries love eyewitnesses; after all, what could be better than the testimony of the person who actually witnessed the crime taking place?  Well, solid forensic evidence, for one thing.

 

Numerous studies have been carried out which demonstrate that eyewitness testimony is unreliable.  It can be particularly inaccurate when the eyewitness is 'identifying' a person of a different race from themeselves. 

Here is a video showing just how wrong eyewitnesses can be.

 

 

 

Were you a better eyewitness than these students?  I was okay on the clothes but poor on the facial details.

So can anything be done to make eyewitness testimony more reliable?  Maybe.

 

Forensic psychologists have been researching eyewitness memory and eyewitness testimony for decades.  There are three stages of eyewitness memory: 

1. Witnessing the incident
2. Waiting to provide testimony about the incident
3. Providing testimony about the incident

You can read about the three stages in more detail here. This is a good website (although the design is a bit messy), where you'll find a variety of useful resources.

As you would expect, the length of time between the incident taking place and providing testimony about it affects the ability of the witness to recall the events accurately.  Furthermore, the language used to question the witness can also influence their testimony.

 

What if a robot asked the eyewitness questions about the incident instead of a human interrogator?  Researchers at Mississippi State University have carried out experiments using both robot and human interrogators.  As part of the study, the robots and humans introduced false information into their questioning.  They all asked identical questions, using the same script.  Only the human interrogators elicited erroneous information from the witnesses.

Here is a link to an article about this research.

 

 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729036.100-robot-inquisition-keeps-witnesses-on-the-right-track.html

I'm sure it will be quite some time before 'Robocop' is routinely questioning eyewitnesses but it is an interesting proposition.  Any improvement on the current system has to be welcomed.  It's not working well at the moment.

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