The Justice Project, in conjunction with The Justice Project Education Fund, has issued two comprehensive policy reviews designed to facilitate communication among local law enforcement agencies, policymakers, practitioners, and others who are concerned about the issues of eyewitness identification and the electronic recording of custodial interrogations. The reviews examine each of these issues and identify pitfalls and “best practices” with the latest research behind them. The reviews also offer model legislation that lawmakers can use to address these concerns in their states.

The eyewitness identification review indicates that a small number of changes to identification procedures can help improve the reliability of these identifications. Such changes include offering witnesses cautionary instructions before showing them a lineup, using the appropriate types of people as line-up fillers, documenting identification procedures, using a double-blind process in lineups, and presenting lineup participants sequentially instead of all at once.

The review concerning recording of interrogations concludes that the virtue of this practice lies not only in its ability to help guard against false confessions, but also in its ability to develop the strongest evidence possible to help convict the guilty. The review recommends audio or video taping of interrogations so that there is a full and accurate account of the circumstances surrounding a confession. The paper urges the taping of all interrogations involving serious felonies, and notes that it is especially important to record interrogations involving juveniles, those with mental retardation, or those with mental illness.

The Justice Project and The Justice Education Fund are nonpartisan organizations dedicated to fighting injustice and to creating a more humane and just world.
(The Justice Project & The Justice Project Education Fund, April 2, 2007). Read the reviews. See Resources.
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