Sus Suspect:
Exploring Potential Biases in Eyewitness Identification
Why This Matters
Eyewitness mistakes are the #1 reason innocent people get sent to prison. 69% of wrongful convictions that get overturned by DNA evidence started with someone identifying the wrong person.
Here’s the thing: when someone witnesses a crime, they may only see the person for a few seconds. Then time goes by and they could get distracted. By the time the police ask them to describe what they saw, their memory might not be as good anymore.
I wanted to test how fast memory gets worse. If you see someone and then do something else for just a minute, how much do you forget?
What I’m Testing
I’m comparing two groups: people who describe someone while they can still see the photo versus people who have to remember what they saw after doing something else for 60 seconds.
I’m also looking at whether things like your age, race, or other stuff affects how well you remember. This could help us understand why some people get wrongfully convicted.
If you take my experiment, you’ll help me identify potential sources of bias. This could help make the justice system better.
Ready to Test Your Memory?
Take the experiment and help us understand how memory works in eyewitness identification. Your participation will contribute to important research.
Start the Experiment