💡 Eyewitness testimony is far less accurate than juries believe, especially under stress
Juries trust es more than almost any other form of evidence. They shouldn't. Research by the Innocence Project found that mistaken identification was a factor in over 70% of later overturned by DNA evidence. The problem is biological: under stress, the floods the brain with cortisol, which enhances memory for the emotional core of an event but degrades memory for peripheral details — like the 's face. Lineup procedures compound the error. When witnesses are shown suspects sequentially rather than simultaneously, identification accuracy improves by nearly 30%, yet most police precincts still use the simultaneous method. rarely catches these errors because confidence and accuracy are poorly correlated in traumatic recall.
Vocabulary (5)
BBC Crime6 words
Why Serial Killers Confess
💡 Most serial killer confessions are driven by narcissism and control, not remorse
When Dennis Rader, the BTK killer, was finally caught in 2005, he didn't just confess — he narrated. He corrected factual errors in the 's timeline, insisted on precise terminology for his methods, and seemed almost affronted when his crimes were mischaracterized. Criminal psychologists call this the confession: a driven not by remorse but by the need to claim authorship. The perpetrator's ego demands recognition. Interrogators exploit this. The Reid technique, controversial but widely used, relies on — the interrogator downplays the moral severity of the crime, making confession feel like rather than surrender. Critics argue this same technique produces from innocent suspects who simply want the ordeal to end.