While eyewitness testimony is a cornerstone of the legal system, it is famously one of the most persuasive yet potentially unreliable forms of evidence. Recent research suggests a more nuanced view: eyewitness memory is not inherently broken but is highly "malleable" and susceptible to contamination by police procedures and the passage of time. The Fragility of Memory
: A witness's recollection often reflects not just what they saw, but information they acquired later from news reports or other witnesses.
: While jurors find high-confidence witnesses the most persuasive, studies show that confidence is often a poor predictor of actual accuracy, as it can be falsely boosted by suggestive questioning. Impact on Justice The cognitive science of eyewitness memory - ScienceDirect
