Doing right by the eyewitness evidence: a response to Berkowitz et al. Issue 1 (2nd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wixted, John T.; Mickes, Laura; Brewin, Chris R.; Andrews, Bernice
• Is Part Of: Memory. Volume 30:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 73
• Page End: 74
• Publication Date: 2022-01-02
• Subjects: Eyewitness identification -- confidence -- reliability -- contamination; Memory -- Periodicals; 153.1205
• DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2021.1940206
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0965-8211

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Berkowitz et al. (Berkowitz, S. R., Garrett, B. L., Fenn, K. M., & Loftus, E. F. (2020). Convicting with confidence? Why we should not over-rely on eyewitness confidence. Memory . https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2020.1849308) attribute to us the claim that "confidence trumps all", and the few out-of-context quotations they selected can certainly be used to create that false impression. However, it is easily disproved, and we do so here. The notion that "confidence trumps all" is the mistake that the jurors made in the DNA exoneration cases, not a position that we have ever advocated.