The Proposed Innocence Protection Act Won’t – Unless It Also Curbs Mistaken Eyewitness Identifications

Margery M. Koosed, University of Akron School of Law

Abstract

Jurors are trusting mistaken eyewitness identification testimony. They are returning mistaken convictions, and risking mistaken executions. The author urges that federal and state Innocence Protection legislation should include provisions to avert erroneous eyewitness identifications. She recommends adopting guidelines found in the Recommendations for Lineups and Photospreads developed by the American Psychology/Law Society (AP/LS), and mandating a more stringent exclusionary rule when less reliable means of identification have been used during a capital crime investigation. She further urges legislators to avert mistaken executions by barring prosecutors from seeking the death penalty when suggestive identification procedures have been used in the course of a capital crime investigation.