There have been 9 exonerations just within the state of Texas. There have been five known cases of death by capital punishment in this state that have later been found to be innocent. There have been nearly forty known cases across the U.S. of those wrongfully sentenced to death and who have died. You may say that these people must have had some part in the case to be “hung” for it. However, this is a great misconception. Some may have just been at the wrong place at the wrong time, others were framed by someone who did not like them, some may have been charged due to racism,coercion, and others just by bad investigating. A study showed that within 86 death row wrongful convictions, 45 were due to eyewitness error. This is very common in all kinds of cases. People may make mistaken identifications due to poor lighting, or due to their mind frame at the point of the event.Many are hysterical at the time, not thinking clearly, and lets not forget the cognitive errors in memory that take place. There is also a common contribution if a gun is involved where people focus on the gun rather than the one holding it. Lineups and photo identifications also can contribute to error in judgement.When faced with all of the pictures or people in a lineup, people may not have a clear memory of the event in the first place and may make mistakes. Also many tend to look for who out of the bunch is most likely the culprit and who isn’t rather than who  they actually saw. When viewing the photos for awhile, the pictures tend to literally start looking alike. The witness also often feels the pressure of having the case “resting on their shoulders”, many are also victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

29 of the cases were due to “other” which was hearsay, or questionable evidence. Alan Gell was a man convicted due to questionable evidence along with the fact that one of the prosecutors did not submit a tape by one of the girls who was a witness saying that she had to “make up a story” about the events that occurred to save herself from any liability involved with the case. Another 17 who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death row were due to government misconduct.

You may say 173(those who were released and those who were killed) is not a big number or that it is not significant in proportion to those who are guilty and rightfully sentenced, however I am sure that it was a significant mishap to each one of those 173 and to their families who lost significant time with their loved ones. Also I am sure that it was significant to those who were killed and to their families all due to these mishaps.

The best-known study on eyewitness testimony was by Loftus (an American psychologist) in 1979. This experiment has been repeated many times, and you can try it.

Show a video of an incident,(car accident, robbery etc) to a group, then divide your ‘witnesses’ into three segments. Witness One Group is asked open questions, such as ‘What colour was the car?’

Witness Two Group is asked more closed questions, such as ‘Was the car blue or brown?’

Witness Three Group is asked closed and leading questions, such as “The car you saw was blue, yes?”

Even when shown the video again, after being questioned, those in the “Witness Three” category will say they could have sworn the car was blue. If asked again three months later, they will repeat the car was blue.

Each of us have many positive false memories. Sometimes when we are young, we recall seeing xyz but it might have been provoked by something said to us, as in “Witness Three” above.

As we get older we put a “spin” on things using later events and emotions to colour earlier ones.

The ‘respinning’ may become cemented in our minds as having happened in the way we “remember”. When there are conflicting views as to what happened, if the memory is without stress, without the “layering” of emotional context the truth can be got at. If not, then the “memory” is “fit” into the current “context”.

For example, Barbara recalls her sister Leah “beating the crap out of her”. Leah recalls slapping her. Unless Barbara calls one slap a beating, then one of them is wrong. If after it is proven that parents and grandparents were present in a fairly small apartment. If Barbara reassesses her memory, she might be led to uncover negative feelings towards her sister. If Barbara doesn’t do this,  she will never understand her feelings, or uncover why she so intensely dislikes her sister and needs to see herself as a ‘victim’.

Once one becomes aware that feelings, prejudices, beliefs effect memory, one becomes a bit cautious in being too certain about what they remember contra what they project. It is not just the “blue car” it is also the fact that if Barbara didn’t despise her sister she would not have turned a slap into a beating.

Memory does “play tricks” on you. You might be remembering something that never happened.