Police lineups are something most people have never had any firsthand experience with. What you see on TV and in movies isn't so far off though. Learn about how these tropes work for real in this classic episode.
AI Summary
# SYSK Podcast Summary
Josh revisits a classic 2018 episode exploring how police lineups actually work and why they're surprisingly unreliable at identifying suspects. The show examines how eyewitness testimony—which accounts for about 75% of wrongful convictions—is easily contaminated by memory flaws, emotional stress, and bias, using real cases like Jerry Miller who spent 24 years in prison based on faulty lineup identifications before DNA evidence cleared him. Through research on sequential versus simultaneous lineups and double-blind administration, Josh and Chuck dig into the surprisingly messy gap between what lab studies suggest works best and how police actually conduct lineups in the real world.
An Innocent Man
1989
1h 53m
★ 6.1
"Did you ever see that movie an innocent man with Tom Selleck? It scared the bejesus out of me. — Referenced as a film about wrongful conviction, similar to the police lineup misidentification issue being discussed."
— Josh
Mr. Show with Bob and David
1995
★ 7.6
"That was just a Mr. Show sketch. Surely not. Which it also was. — Referenced as having done a sketch about shooting a nuclear missile at the moon before the real story became declassified."
"Wasn't Kramer in a lineup when he was a suspect? Totally serial killer suspect. — Referenced as depicting a comedic lineup scene where Kramer was a suspect and kept turning the wrong way."
— Chuck
"Discover FX's Showgun, the official podcast available now based on James Clavell's bestselling novel — Referenced as a limited series based on James Clavell's novel with an accompanying official podcast."
"our continuing mission with ridiculous history, not to sound too star Trekky about it — Referenced in a casual comparison to describe the ongoing mission of the Ridiculous History podcast."
"Or they do like, homer Simpson. And wasn't there, like, a boat raffle that they said he had to come down to the police station? — Referenced as an example of a humorous fictional police lineup scenario involving Homer Simpson."
— Chuck
The Usual Suspects
1995
1h 46m
★ 8.2
"I think of that and I think of the great lineup scene in the usual suspects. — Referenced as having a notable police lineup scene, though the hosts note it would never happen in real life."
— Chuck
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