About the project
Eyewitness errors are involved in a very high proportion of wrongful convictions. There are several factors contributing to the impact of such errors, one obvious factor is insufficient knowledge about the fallibility of human perception and memory among both witnesses and the chief players in the judicial system.
Decisions based on erroneous psychological folklore pose a threat to criminal justice. To evaluate this question we are carrying out a series of large-scale surveys, probing the knowledge and beliefs about memory in general and about eyewitness testimony in particular, among Norwegian judges, jurors and potential jurors, and psychologists and psychiatrists, and compare the lay beliefs with well-established memory science.