Innocence Blog

Eyewitness blog: The problems with jury instructions

Posted: August 15, 2007 1:49 pm

The instructions that judges most commonly give to juries when an eyewitness testifies, called a Telfaire instruction after a 1972 circuit court decision, asks jurors to consider the “strength” of the identification and the circumstances under which the identification was made . In a recent post on the Eyewitness Identification Reform Blog, public defender Ben Hiltzheimer argues that Telfaire is based on outdated research and needs to be updated to reflect new practices and knowledge in the field of eyewitness identification.

It's time to stop misinforming juries based on the antiquated, unscientific musings of an old Court, and to start letting science into the courtroom at every phase of trial. The Constitution demands it, and the rights of the wrongfully accused depend on it.

Read the full post here.