Eyewitness Identification
James W. Osterburg, Richard H. Ward, Larry S. Miller · 2019
When a crime has been witnessed by a victim or another person, either might be able to identify the offender. This possibility must be exploited without delay. The first step is to arrange for both victim and eyewitness to scrutinize the mug shot files of the Rogues Gallery; then, if this effort is unsuccessful, to reconstruct an image of the offender with an artist’s sketch, facial-features kit, or computer-generated sketch. The reconstruction should be distributed within the department and, to enlist the public’s cooperation, in the vicinity of the crime. If an arrest is ultimately made, a lineup should be held to see whether victim or eyewitness can identify the suspect. Clearly, the methods employed to identify an offender before an arrest differ markedly from those used after arrest. Just the same, the investigator must bear in mind not only the limitations of eyewitness evidence, but also the potential for misidentification.