ABSTRACT
In July 1984, Jennifer Thompson was sexually assaulted by an assailant, who, later that night, sexually assaulted a second woman. Thompson helped create the composite sketch that led to the assembly of a live line-up in which she positively identified Ronald Cotton as the perpetrator. Eyewitness identification (EWID) plays a critical role in criminal cases, from the investigation to the prosecution of the crime. The core element of EWID is memory – remembering the suspect, the proceedings of the crime, and the emotions associated. Memory is first encoded, then consolidated with existing information in the brain, and then retrieved (i.e., reconstructed) at a later time. Statistical methods, used to analyze datasets concerning eyewitness choices in experiments or in the field, can allow one to better understand what factors affect the likelihood that an eyewitness will choose correctly.
