Eyewitness Basics

Eyewitness Basics

1. What is testimonial evidence?

Testimonial evidence includes oral or written ______given to police as well as ______in court by people who witnessed an event. Eyewitness accounts can be a useful tool in helping investigators with analyzing ______, but are not viewed to be highly ______. In addition, eyewitness identifications (right or wrong) can have a big influence on the outcome of an ______or trial.

2. Memory Challenge

After the time is up, write down as many of the items as you can remember.

1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. ______
6. ______
7. ______
8. ______
9. ______
10. ______/ 11. ______
12. ______
13. ______
14. ______
15. ______
16. ______
17. ______
18. ______
19. ______
20. ______

Can you identify the items’ locations?

3. What factors affect a person’s memory and their ability to identify a suspect?

Witness Factors: ______

Crime Scene & Suspect Factors: ______

1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. ______/ 6. ______
7. ______
8. ______
9. ______
10. ______

4. Crime Scene Challenge

After the time is up, write the

answer for each question in

the space below.

5. Facial Composites

Investigators work with sketch ______and eyewitnesses to create facial composites, or sketches of a person’s ______. Today many police departments are using facial reconstruction ______to help them with this task.

The composite may be used ______to assist officers in identifying the suspect or used ______through local media (radio, TV, and newspaper) to solicit leads from citizens.

______– A software program that offers many options to help you recreate a person’s facial features (You may want to look this up and see if there is a demo)

Listen to the Audio file: “Finding fault with Forensics” and read the short articles in this section and write a short reflective essay (1-2 pages) about them…think about you did on the memory challenge and the Crime scene Challenge.

______

______

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