Eyewitness identification evidence is given considerable weight by the triers of fact in criminal court proceedings (e.g. Cutler, Penrod, & Stuve, 1988). Unfortunately, an extensive body of research over the last four decades has debunked the notion that eyewitness evidence is always reliable. The exoneration of 180 individuals wrongfully convicted on the basis of DNA evidence as of June 2006 (www.innocenceproject.org) supports this conclusion: more than 80% of cases of proven wrongful imprisonment are due, at least in part, to mistaken eyewitness identification (Rattner, 1988; Scheck, Neufeld, & Dwyer, 2001; Wells et al., 2000). According to Scheck et al. (2001), inadequate procedures used by law enforcement are largely responsible for facilitating mistaken identifications.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10683160500254904
