MPD Resists Reforming Eyewitness ID Procedures, Increasing Wrongful Convictions

ACLU-NCA Seeks Support for Best Practices Approach

Thanks to the use of DNA evidence, we know that eyewitness misidentification is responsible for more wrongful convictions in this country than all other causes combined. However, because DNA evidence is available in only limited instances, we’ll never really know how many people have been wrongfully convicted.

To minimize the possibility of wrongful convictions in the District, Councilmember Phil Mendelson, Chairperson of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, introduced Bill 17-841 to reform MPD’s eyewitness identification procedures.

The bill importantly requires that lineups and photo arrays be conducted on a double-blind basis (the person administering the procedure doesn’t know the identity of the person the police suspect of committing the crime, and the witness doesn’t know who the police suspect is the perpetrator). Notwithstanding that research clearly establishes that double-blind identifications are more reliable, the police department opposes the bill.

In our testimony at the September 30th hearing and in the testimony of expert witnesses, we made clear that there was a need to reform eyewitness ID procedures, and that at a minimum, double-blind procedures should be instituted.

We shall now try to persuade other councilmembers to support the bill. View the ACLU-NCA testimony (PDF).