Few things are more compelling than a witness pointing out a defendant in the courtroom as the perpetrator. But few things are also more unreliable than eyewitness testimony. Our memories can be pretty terrible, which matters when you’re facing death row.
This episode dives deep into the surprising unreliability of eyewitness testimony in criminal cases, exploring why memory is far less like a video recording and much more like a creative reconstruction prone to errors. Josh and Chuck examine the psychological science behind flawed perception, attention limits, and how the process of recalling events multiple times actually contaminates the very evidence meant to convict criminals. From the cross-race effect to leading questions by police, you'll discover why hundreds of innocent people have been exonerated thanks to DNA evidence that contradicted supposedly ironclad eyewitness accounts.
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