Lord Willoughby, I Presume? 100 Years of Assessing Eyewitness Evidence

Joseph Bell Centre for Forensic Statistics and Legal Reasoning Annual Workshop, Edinburgh

10 Pages Posted: 13 Feb 2010

See all articles by Michael C. Bromby

Michael C. Bromby

Glasgow Caledonian University; Truman Bodden Law School

Date Written: June 28, 2004

Abstract

This paper examines police practice and the law relating to eyewitness identification over the past century. In 1904 an inquiry into mistaken identity, and the associated media attention, led directly to the establishment of the Criminal Court of Appeal in England. Much advancement has been made to avoid miscarriages of justice through the use of identity parades, rules and regulations, such as PACE Code D, and judicial warnings such as the Turnbull direction. However, the number of appeals based upon fraught eyewitness evidence persists to this day. Can the perennial problem of inherent human observational error ever be overcome?

Keywords: eyewitness identification, identity, miscarriage of justice

Suggested Citation

Bromby, Michael C. and Bromby, Michael C., Lord Willoughby, I Presume? 100 Years of Assessing Eyewitness Evidence (June 28, 2004). Joseph Bell Centre for Forensic Statistics and Legal Reasoning Annual Workshop, Edinburgh, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1551836 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1551836

Michael C. Bromby (Contact Author)

Truman Bodden Law School ( email )

PO Box 1568
Grand Cayman, KY1-1110
Cayman Islands

HOME PAGE: http://www.bromby.vze.com

Glasgow Caledonian University

Scotland
United Kingdom

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