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Eyewitness evidence, in which a witness visually identifies the culprit, is a staple of criminal investigations. But its fallibility is notorious. As the National Academy of Sciences explained in an […]
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Increasing research shows that eyewitness confidence at the time of the initial identification can be a strong predictor of accuracy under appropriate lineup identification conditions.1 In such conditions, police show […]
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In 2016, the Third Circuit sat en banc to hear the case of Commonwealth v. Dennis.1 Little did the court realize the sustained impact this single appeal would have on […]
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by Thomas D. Albright and Jed S. Rakoff
Spring 2020 | Volume 104 Number 1Six years ago, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) convened a panel of experts to consider the problem of eyewitness identification. Eyewitnesses have long played a significant role in […]
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by Brandon Garrett and John Monahan
Summer 2019 | Volume 103 Number 2Judges are using risk assessment instruments in criminal cases more than ever before. Their role is increasingly prominent at all stages of the criminal justice system, including policing, pretrial detention, […]
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Here is a forensic-science test for you. Please answer each of the three questions below True or False. Scientific tests conducted over the past 100 years have repeatedly demonstrated that […]
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Competing notions of crime and punishment have shaped the administration of criminal justice in the United States ever since the Quakers established the Walnut Street Prison in 1773 in Philadelphia, […]
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Criminal trials have virtually disappeared in many federal courtrooms.[1] According to a recent U.S. Sentencing Commission report, “[i]n recent years, 97 percent of federal defendants convicted of a felony or […]
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In recent years, there has been increased attention on sentencing, and particularly sentencing disparities. The thrust and focus of this attention have been on the statistics of sentencing and reforms, […]
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the supreme court’s decision in Daubert V. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which fundamentally reshaped how judges evaluate scientific and expert evidence.1 This volume […]
