Colorado recently became the 12th state in the nation to mandate best practices for eyewitness identifications in criminal investigations. SB 58, the Eyewitness Identifications Policies and Procedures bill, requires all Colorado law enforcement agencies to adopt written policies and procedures that reflect best practices in eyewitness identifications on or before July 1, 2016.
Eyewitness misidentification is one of the leading causes of wrongful conviction in the United States. SB 58 is intended to improve the accuracy and reliability of eyewitness identifications, and urges law enforcement agencies to reform how they conduct line-ups, for example through a “blind” administration of photo arrays and live line-ups.
SB 58, signed into law by Colorado Governor Hickenlooper in April, received immense support from Colorado District Attorneys’ Council, the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Colorado Criminal Defense Institute. In February, NCIP Board Member Jennifer Thompson testified before the Colorado legislature’s Senate Judiciary Committee in support of SB 58. Thompson gave her harrowing account of misidentifying exoneree Ronald Cotton as the man who raped her in 1984.
Thompson said, “It was really then that I understood the magnitude of what happens when the system fails, which is why SB 58 is so important to me, law enforcement, and the whole community.”
Read about NCIP’s Eyewitness Identification Best Practices Symposium here.
Read more here.
