Applying the Stamp Safety Model to Prevent False Convictions Based on Eyewitness Misidentifications 83 Albany Law Review 2019-2020

83 Alb. L. Rev. 931 (2019-2020)
Applying the Stamp Safety Model to Prevent False Convictions Based on Eyewitness Misidentifications

handle is hein.journals/albany83 and id is 957 raw text is:

APPLYING THE STAMP SAFETY MODEL TO PREVENT FALSE
CONVICTIONS BASED ON EYEWITNESS
MISIDENTIFICATIONS

Boaz Sangero*

ABSTRACT

In many criminal law systems, eyewitness identification of a
suspect is sufficient to establish that they are the perpetrator of the
crime in question, without any need for additional corroborating
evidence. But this lofty legal status stands in contrast to the
undisputed assertion in the professional literature that an
erroneous eyewitness identification is far from rare, with many
scholars holding it to be the most common cause of false convictions.
On this background, this Article offers ways of reducing the rate of
false convictions based on eyewitness misidentifications. The
Article argues for the creation and application of a safety theory in
the criminal justice system, specifically regarding eyewitness
identifications. Therefore, after the Article connects between the
modern theory of safety, which is well developed in other areas of
our life, and the new theory of safety from false convictions; and
after a deep discussion of one of the most serious hazards in
criminal law-the hazard of false convictions based on eyewitness
misidentifications-a specific safety model shall be developed,
based on these discussions and on the innovative STAMP safety
model. The substance of the suggested rules is based on both the
psychological research and the legal literature. The high rate of
false convictions is not an inevitable fate.

Professor of Law, Founder of the Criminal Law & Criminology Department, College of
Law & Business, Ramat-Gan, Israel; and School of Law, Sapir College, Israel. I thank
Professor Rinat Kitai-Sangero for her tremendous help in all the stages of the writing, and
Dr. Daniel Hartmann, who introduced me to the STAMP safety model. I also thank Professor
Doron Menashe and Jayden Kitai-Sangero for their helpful comments on different drafts of
this Article.

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