Details:
Please join us for our first installment of the 2014-2015 Brown Bag Speaker Series, featuring a presentation by Dr. Steven Clark, titled “Evolution of Theory and Data in Eyewitness Testimony Research.”
This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. No RSVP necessary.
Graduate students – please join us for a special luncheon with Dr. Clark following his presentation (1-2pm). Please RSVP to psychlaw@uci.edu if you plan to attend the luncheon.
Date:
Tuesday, October 14th, 2014
Time:
12-:00 – 1:00pm
Location:
University of California, Irvine campus
Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway, room 1517
Abstract:
These are interesting times for eyewitness identification research. The social problem that motivates research in eyewitness identification is clearer than ever. Eyewitnesses make mistakes: They sometimes fail to identify the guilty, and they sometimes falsely identify the innocent. However, our understanding of why eyewitnesses make mistakes, and how the criminal justice system should respond, is less clear, as the theoretical and empirical foundations of eyewitness identification research have shifted and evolved. In this talk I will discuss the evolution of theories of eyewitness identification, and how those theories are connected broadly to theories of memory and decision making, and I will present recent data that challenge early theories and long-held empirical claims. For example, recent experimental results suggest that sequential presentation of lineups does not improve identification accuracy, and suggestive identification procedures do not necessarily reduce eyewitness accuracy. A new framework for evaluating eyewitness identification reforms is outlined.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Steven Clark is a Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside where he studies human memory as it relates to eyewitness testimony. Currently, his research focuses on understanding how people who have witnessed a crime later make identification decisions. Relying on decades of work, he has developed a comprehensive model of the memory and decision processes underlying eyewitness identification, termed the WITNESS model.
Dr. Clark also serves as the Director for the Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies, a research center at UC Riverside that works with local agencies to reduce the number of juvenile repeat-offenders, creates wellness centers to reduce violence in schools, and created a Mental Health Court to provide alternative solutions for mentally ill offenders. Dr. Clark has spoken at meetings of the National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National District Attorneys Association and currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Law and Human Behavior.
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