After more than three decades, law enforcement is starting to implement the recommendations of more than 3,000 scientific studies, according to Gary Wells of Iowa State University who has been studying eyewitness identification problems for 35 years. According to a story in the ABA Journal, some estimate that one-quarter to one-third of all police departments use double-blind and sequential procedures and the numbers are increasing daily. In 2011, Texas became the 10th state to legislate the use of written lineup procedures aimed at reducing mistaken identifications. In New Jersey, the state supreme court unanimously ruled that the state’s existing standard for eyewitness identification evidence was not reliable.
Yet in California, most jurisdictions have not adopted the best practices, with the exception of a few. Santa Clara County law enforcement has been using many best practices including double-blind and sequential procedures for many years and other departments are following that lead. The San Francisco Police Department reformed their procedures starting January of this year and several others are considering changes.
Sign our online petition and urge the California Attorney General to endorse best practices statewide.
For more, read the story in the American Bar Association Journal here.
