HINTS: Bernard Jackson
Bernard Jackson is a free man today, but he has many bitter memories. Jackson spent five years in prison after a jury wrongly convicted him of raping two women. At Jackson's trial, although two witnesses testified that Jackson was with them in another location at the times of the crimes, he was convicted anyway. Why? The jury believed the testimony of the two victims, who positively identified Jackson as the man who had attacked them. The court eventually freed Jackson after the police found the man who had really committed the crimes. Jackson was similar in appearance to the guilty man. The two women had made a mistake in identity. As a result, Jackson has lost five years of his life. The two women in this case were eyewitnesses. They clearly saw the man who attacked them, yet they mistakenly identified an innocent person. Similar incidents have occurred before. Eyewitnesses to other crimes have identified the wrong person in a police lineup or in photographs. Many factors influence the accuracy of eyewitness testimony. For instance, witnesses sometimes see photographs of several suspects before they try to identify the person they saw in a lineup of people. They can become confused by seeing many photographs of similar faces. The number of people in the lineup, and whether it is a live lineup or a photograph, may also affect a witness's decision. People sometimes have difficulty identifying people of other races. The questions the police ask witnesses also have an effect on them.
雖然有許多痛苦的回憶，但Bernard Jackson 如今是一個自由的人了。jackson由于被錯誤的被指控侵犯了兩名婦女而在監(jiān)獄里度過了5年。盡管在jackson的案件審理中，有兩名證人證明他在案發(fā)時在其他地方。但是仍然被判有罪。為什么？因為陪審團(tuán)相信了兩名受害者的證詞，她們認(rèn)定jackson就是襲擊她們的男子。雖然在警方找到真正的犯人之后，法院最終釋放了jackson。但是因為jackson長得像犯人而導(dǎo)致那兩名婦女做出了錯誤的認(rèn)定結(jié)果。jackson失去了原本屬于自己的5年。 在這個案件中這兩個女人是目擊證人。她們清楚的看見了罪犯但卻錯誤的指認(rèn)了無辜的人。之前就發(fā)生過類似的事件。其他案件的目擊證人在窗口指認(rèn)罪犯或罪犯的照片時也發(fā)生了指認(rèn)錯誤。 有很多的因素影響了目擊證人證詞的精確度。像是，證人在試圖在一組人中辨認(rèn)出犯人之前，先看到了其中一些人的照片。他們會在看到數(shù)張類似的臉后陷入困惑之中。小組的人數(shù)和是否是現(xiàn)場辨認(rèn)或是辨認(rèn)照片都會影響證人的決定。人們有時很難辨別出一個人的種族。而警方詢問證人的問題也會對證人產(chǎn)生影響。 ——譯文來自: lurity