By Michel Funicelli, Lecturer in Policing, Teesside College
American Kevin Strickland was exonerated after spending 42 years in jail for being wrongfully convicted of a triple homicide in November 2021. His 1978 conviction was based mostly on mistaken identification of an eyewitness. The eyewitness later stated that police pressured her into figuring out Strickland, and tried to have her testimony recanted however failed. She died in 2015.
Regulation enforcement companies worldwide battle with the unreliability of eyewitness identification and shortage of bodily clues at crime scenes. There’s a wealth of evidence exhibiting that mistaken eyewitness identification is a contributing factor in wrongful convictions. Police only collect physical evidence in roughly 15% or less of crime scenes. This makes non-physical proof like eyewitness testimony extraordinarily vital.
Strickland and different victims of wrongful identification, together with Thomas Raynard James – exonerated in April 2022 after spending 32 years in jail – may need been saved from prolonged jail sentences with modern know-how.
Developed by the late Peter Rosenfeld, a professor at Northwestern College, the Complicated Trial Protocol (CTP) is taken into account a dependable and sound methodology for analysing a selected brainwave, generally known as the P300. This comparatively cheap and non-invasive method could possibly be used to find out if a witness or a suspect recognises essential items of data associated to a criminal offense, solely identified to that individual and the authorities.
The way it works
Now we have all been in conditions the place our consideration was gripped by listening to our title talked about in a social setting. This reflex has been a function of survival because the starting of humanity to allow us to detect whether or not a selected sound or sight was a risk. This involuntary reaction is without doubt one of the main theories underpinning this phenomenon.
The P300 is {an electrical} brainwave detectable by putting electrodes on an individual’s scalp. It seems on an electroencephalogram (EEG) as a optimistic or adverse deflection (a downward or upward wanting curve) about 300 to 600 milliseconds after an individual is offered with a novel and significant stimulus. This response is taken into account a reliable index of memory recognition. It could actually present when an individual recognises a person’s title, the candy style of chocolate, or the sound of an artist’s voice.
The CTP is a selected methodology for making use of a hid info check, a method already used often in forensic investigations, resembling in id parades. The logic behind that is simple to know. A witness or a suspect is offered with a vital piece of data (the “probe”), combined in with a sequence of impartial options (“irrelevants”).
On this check, investigators analyse the interviewee’s mind exercise through electrodes hooked up to their scalp. They then use a statistical calculation to find out in the event that they recognise the probe – the face of an attacker or a weapon – compared to the irrelevants.
Utilizing it within the discipline
Up to now, the CTP has primarily been examined in a laboratory setting, often with younger, wholesome, university-educated adults beneath managed circumstances. The CTP has been the topic of dozens of experiments throughout 4 unbiased laboratories spanning not less than 4 nations thus far. Experiments have used completely different situations resembling mock theft and mock terrorism. I’m planning extra discipline experiments to match the success of the CTP with standard picture parades and their subjective “I’m positive it’s him” responses from eyewitnesses.
Different strategies just like the CTP have been utilized in India, the US and New Zealand, within the context of a hid info check. Extra unbiased research with these methodologies are crucial earlier than it turns into mainstream. With extra analysis on the CTP, I hope that this reminiscence detection method could possibly be admissible in UK courts in a matter of years.
Learn extra: If a brain can be caught lying, should we admit that evidence to court? Here’s what legal experts think
Performing the check on a suspect or eyewitness previous to formal interview may verify whether or not or not they recognise a homicide weapon or the offender’s face. The outcomes of the check would then be used to evaluate their credibility – for instance, in the event that they contradict the check’s findings in an interview.
It’s inconceivable to know if picture identification utilizing brainwave evaluation with the CTP would have prevented the miscarriages of justice talked about above. However preliminary findings from my ongoing analysis recommend the CTP could possibly be an asset for legislation enforcement, enabling investigators to attract out proof from the mind of suspects and eyewitnesses.
The potential for this know-how isn’t with out its pitfalls. A major threat to its usefulness is when related info is unintentionally launched within the public area. For instance, somebody accused of a criminal offense based mostly on proof from a brainwave evaluation may declare that the witness recognised their face from the press, thus skewing the outcomes of the check. This is able to be tough to navigate in some conditions, however could possibly be mitigated by legislation enforcement holding their playing cards nearer to their chest.
