Witness for the Defense: The Accused, the Eyewitness, and the Expert Who Puts Memory on Trial

by Elizabeth F. Loftus

Book Overview

Explains why eyewitness identifications, usually damning, can be unreliable and can result in the conviction of innocent people.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312055374
• ISBN13: 9780312055370
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Quotes From the Book

Selected Quotes from the Book: ..."our memory can be changed, inextricably altered, in that what we think we know, what we believe in our hearts, is not necessarily the truth." "It isn't so astonishing, the number of things that I can remember, as the number of things I can remember that aren't so." Mark Twain "When we remember we pull pieces of the past out of some mysterious region of the brain --jagged, jigsaw pieces that we sort and sift, arrange and rearrange until they fit into a pattern that makes sense. The finished project, the memory that seems so clear and focused in our minds, is actually part fact, part fiction, a warped and twisted reconstruction of reality." Memory starts with the acquisition stage..., the retention stage..., and the retrieval stage... "Contrary to popular belief, facts don't come into our memory and reside there untouched and unscathed by future events. Instead we pick up fragments and features from our environment and these go into memory where they interact with our prior knowledge and expectations --information that is already stored in our memory. ...think of memory as being an integrative process --a constructive and creative process --rather than a passive recording process such as a video tape." "It wasn't that he didn't have doubts --no one can know anything for certain." 'Created Memories' "Simply by asking (leading) questions... In this situation, we can see the power of suggestion to induce a memory of something that never actually occurred." "When you ask leading questions that suggest what the answer is to be, children (and adults) will pick up that information and incorporate it into their memories, and then they will then come to believe that they actually experienced these details when, in fact, they've only been suggested to them." Once some one's memory has been contaminated, distorted or transformed... it's virtually impossible to tell fact from fantasy because the individual witness now believes in what he or she is saying." "Is the...memory an original truth, or an after-the-fact truth?" "...stress is detrimental to mental functioning, the ability to receive and remember details is impaired. ... The more an event is rehearsed, the more confident a person becomes that what she remembers is the the absolute and unequivocal truth." "And yet the victim couldn't accept the fact that she had made a mistaken ID. She could not bring herself to admit that someone other than Von Williams might have committed this crime." ..."people can become so attached to their memories that even when obvious contradictions and discrepancies are raised, they refuse to change their minds." "As a witness

An expert's thoughts on Ted Bundy

This book is worth reading, if only to study the author's thoughts on Ted Bundy for whom the author testified as an expert witness. On p. 74 the author wonders if Bundy will offer to let her stay in his apartment. On page 83 she describes him as "adorable...all Ivy League charm, clean-cut freshly shaved and showered, bright and eager." And then on page 84 she decides that while everything about Bundy seemed right--his suit, hair and expression--that she decided that Bundy was guilty when he smiled the prosecuting attorney.

Reveals how tricks the mind plays can lead to injustice

Long before DNA testing began to demonstrate that an alarming number of people had been convicted of crimes they did not commit, Elizabeth Loftus was using her scientific studies of memory and memory distortion to alert the legal system and the public in general of such injustices. This book describes a series of cases that are classic examples of just how faulty eyewitness memory can be. The book does a great job of mixing documentary story-telling and personal reflection with genuine education regarding what cognitive scientists know about how memory works and doesn't work. This book is engaging and recommended reading for anyone, whether they are an educator, a lawyer, or simply an average citizen who someday may find themselves witnessing a crime or sitting in the jury box deciding someone else's fate.

A first-rate introduction to the true nature of memory

Anyone who must deal with eyewitness testimony should read this book! It is both fascinating and disturbing.

Compelling Stories--But Method is Flawed

Loftus is an expert on memory, and here turns her attention to memory in criminal cases. Each chapter is a different example of memory and eyewitness testimony gone wrong in US legal cases where she served as an expert witness. Usually she focuses on the misidentification of innocent people as the perpetrators of crimes-including the controversial John Demjanjuk case.She makes good points about the unreliability of memory under conditions of stress--like witnessing crimes. However, I have to disagree with her when she claims that there are objective ways of perceiving and remembering events untainted by emotion, etc. All perception and memory is tainted. We will just have to learn to deal with that in the court system. Loftus does offer some good ways to avoid problems these problems--for instance procedures for line-ups and identification of perpetrators using pictures.