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Eyewitness Reliability in Motor Vehicle Accident Reconstruction and Litigation, Seconedition

Name: Eyewitness Reliability in Motor Vehicle Accident Reconstruction and Litigation, Seconedition
Author: Robins, Patrick J.
ISBN: 9781933264684

by Robins, Patrick J.

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Overview

A necessity for anyone involved with eyewitness reports. Eyewitnesses, especially in testimony, can be a mess. Two witnesses can contradict one another over the same accident scene. Some acquire post-event misinformation. And human memory, always unreliable, plays a crucial role. Now you can be prepared with this book, exploring all the fallible aspects of eyewitness testimony. You will learn how a jury evaluates eyewitness testimony on the basis of witness confidence and personality. This book teaches you to counteract this by knowing what questions to ask your witnesses to get the most accurate information, where to undermine the eyewitness testimony against you, and how to avoid the pitfalls of eyewitness evidence. Dr. Robins cites case studies, research, and seminar demonstrations that are both interesting and educational. By learning from one of the world's experts, you will make eyewitness testimony an asset to your case.

Use of physical evidence
Limitations of physical evidence
Use of human evidence
Limitations of human evidence
Evidence and truth
Vision
Sensation
Perception
Central viewing
Peripheral viewing
Contrast
Attention
Perception of distance and speed
Processing speed and time
Perception of time
Perception and knowledge
Perception and expectation
Perception and truth
Sensory memory
Short-Term memory
Long-Term memory
Memory distortion
Memory and emotion
Sources of misinformation
Witness overconfidence
Forgetting in sensory short-term and long-term memory
Cue-Dependent forgetting
State-Dependent forgetting
Amnesia
The scientific model
Internal and external validity
Therole of chance
Statistical significance versus usefulness
Human factors issues
Practical considerations

Synopsis

Eyewitnesses, especially in testimony, can be a mess. Two witnesses can contradict one another over the same accident scene. Some acquire post-event misinformation. And human memory, always unreliable, plays a crucial role. Now you can be prepared with this book, exploring all the fallible aspects of eyewitness testimony. You will learn how a jury evaluates eyewitness testimony on the basis of witness confidence and personality. This book teaches you to counteract this by knowing what questions to ask your witnesses to get the most accurate information, where to undermine the eyewitness testimony against you, and how to avoid the pitfalls of eyewitness evidence. Dr. Robins cites case studies, research, and seminar demonstrations that are both interesting and educational. By learning from one of the world's experts, you will make eyewitness testimony an asset to your case.

About the Author, Robins, Patrick J.

Patrick J. Robins received a Ph.D. in Social/Industrial Psychology from the University of Manitoba in 1983 and began a teaching career in the Department of Psychology at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto, Canada that same year. In 1988, he joined Ryerson's newly founded Vehicle Safety Research Centre, one of eight multi-disciplinary university- based teams in Canada contracted by Transport Canada to provide national motor vehicle accident and defect investigations. He was the Senior Collision Investigator and Team Manager when he left the Ryerson Team in 1997 to devote his full attention to his collision reconstruction business in Toronto. His company, Virtual Crash Animation and Reconstruction, provides consultation on a variety of traffic crash reconstruction issues, including human factors.

Dr. Robins has regularly taught crash reconstruction courses including human factors training for the University of North Florida's Institute of Police Technology and Management as well as both the Canadian Police College and the Ontario Provincial Police College. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Technical Accident Investigatorsm and Reconstructionists (CATAIR) and the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES).