Innocence Blog

New Eyewitness Study Finds That Sequential Lineups are More Accurate

Posted: September 19, 2011 5:41 pm

A highly-anticipated field study on eyewitness identification procedures has found that double-blind sequential lineups – where the administering officer doesn’t know which person is the suspect and the witness views one suspect photograph at a time – produce fewer mistaken identifications than lineup procedures that present all of the suspect photographs simultaneously.

Following a recent landmark decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court mandating major changes in the way courts evaluate eyewitness identification evidence, “A Test of Simultaneous vs. Sequential Lineup Methods: An Initial Report of the AJS National Eyewitness Identification Field Studies,” has implications for reducing wrongful convictions in the United States criminal justice system.

AJS, in collaboration with the Police Foundation, the Innocence Project, and the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, implemented the national field study at four law enforcement agencies to determine which lineup method – sequential or simultaneous – is more accurate.

An article in Monday’s New York Times reports that while several states and law enforcement agencies have already implemented requirements for double-blind sequential lineups, many have yet to embrace this reform.

The new study shows that “we have the tools to reduce eyewitness error, to protect the innocent and help law enforcement apprehend the guilty,” said Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project.

Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in more than 75% of the 273 convictions overturned through DNA testing.

Access the report.

Read the full article.

Tags: Eyewitness Identification, Eyewitness Misidentification